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Book ,9,<j 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 




From the Steel Engraving made in 1847. 



THE PIONEERS 

OF THE 

Reformed Church in the United 
States of North America. 

BY 

H. J. Ruetenik, D. D., LL. D. 



CLEVELAND, OHIO: 
Central Publishing House, n 34-1 138 Pearl St. 
1901. 




THE l.i 3RARY OF 

GCNGSESS, 
Two Cofiea H tCEivEB 

JAN. 2 1902 

COFVWGMT ENTRY 

OLA a 3 O/XXa No. 
COPY 3. 



Copyright, 1901, 
Central Publishing House of the Reformed Church > 
1134-1138 Pearl St., Cleveland, O. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In 1899 the author was invited to prepare for the 
Reformed Assembly a paper on the Pioneers of the 
Reformed Church in the United States. Upon setting 
to work he found such an abundance of valuable ma- 
terial in Dr. J. I. Good's History of the Reformed 
Church in the United States from 1725- 1792, and in 
some other works of minor importance, that he became 
deeply interested in his task, and felt constrained to 
put it into the more permanent form of a little book 
so arranged as to bring out clearly and prominently 
the most important facts and the most efficient men of 
this period, the Genesis of the American Reformed 
( German) Church. 

From past experience present duties are learned by 
the church as well as by men. A careful study of 
God's dealings with men is most helpful in forming a 
correct conception of God's purposes with them. It is 
not only that people thus learn to magnify the goodness 
of God, and His mysterious indwelling in His Church, 
but they are also led to obtain a better insight into 
Christ's purposes with that particular branch of the 
church, with which they stand connected and to 
which they owe their loyal allegiance. 

The visible church, it is true, falls far short of sinless 
perfection. The truthful historian has to chronicle many 



shortcoming's and failures incident upon her noble 
labors. Her best men are no better than David or 
Peter or Paul. But if we cannot always be proud of 
our church, we have always good reason to be grateful 
for what God worked through our forefathers. If 
hero-worship is not to be cultivated, there still remains 
the sacred duty of honoring father and mother, the 
first command that has promise. 

The Chinese deify their ancestors, and — stagnate. 
The impious of all nations despise them, and — drift 
away. The wise build on the foundations laid by them, 
and — raise "each temple" nearer to heaven. 

May this book with all its imperfections — and they 
are seen by no one more clearly than by its author — 
afford some help to all who desire to love their church, 
not blindly, but sincerely and intelligently. 

The author's thanks are due to Prof. W. J. Hirike, so 
favorably known for the accuracy and conscientious- 
ness of his researches, who very kindly consented to 
revise the historical data. 

October, 1901. The Author. 



CONTENTS. 

I. THE PIETISTS 7-27 

The Siegen Country 7.- g 

Joh. Heinrich Haegener's Colony 8- 9 

The Palatinate 0-12 

The Mohawk and the Swatara < 12-13 

Infralapsarianism 13-16 

Pietism and Catechism 16-17 

Guldin's Conversion 17-20 

Guldin in Philadelphia 20-23 

J. H. Goetschi 23-25 

. Joh. Peter Mueller , 25-29 

II. THE MORAVIANS 30-54 

Zinzendorf's Principles. The Tropes 30-32 

Old Friends and Arrival of Zinzendorf. 32-38 

John Bechtel, Inspector. Reformed Tropus 38-39 

The New Catechism 39-41 

The Reaction Setting in , 41-42 

John Phil. Boehm, the Schoolmaster 42-45 

John Phil. Boehm, the Church Organizer 45-47 

John Phil. Boehm and Weiss 47-50 

John Phil. Boehm against Zinzendorf. , 50-53 

End of the Reformed Tropus 53-54 

III. THE DEPUTIES AND MICHAEL SCHLATTER 55-86 

Weiss and Reiff in Holland &5-56 

Missionary Spirit in the Dutch Church 56-57 

Fifteen Years of waiting 57-60 

Schlatter's Youth 60-62 

The Visitator , 62-63 

Work done in 1746 64-67 

The First Coetus 67-69 

The Second Coetus 69-72 

Schlatter against Boehm 72-74 

The Philadelphia Congregation against Schlatter 74-77 

Schlatter in Holland, Switzerland, and Herborn 77-79 

The Crash.— Weiss's End... 80-83 



III. THE DEPUTIES AND MICHAEL SCHLATTER (Continued.) 

Page. 

The Charity Schools 83-85 

Schlatter's End 85-86 

IV. THE REVIVALS 87-109 

The Mission of Methodism 87- 88 

OtterbehTs Youth 88- 90 

The Lancaster Congregation ,. 90- 91 

Otterbein's Consecration 92- 94 

Tulpehocken, Frederick, and York 94- 97 

The Baltimore Congregation 97-100 

Martin Boehm 100-101 

The Big Meetings 101 

The Antietam Meetings 101-103 

Otterbein's End 103-105 

Alb. Conr. Helffenstein's Consecration 105-106 

Alb. Conr. Helffenstein's Sermons 106-108 

S. C. Stahlschmidt 108-109 

V. INDEPENDENCE 110 

Estrangement of the Coetus from the Deputies 110-111 

Declaration of Independence 11 1-1 1 2 

Reflections 113-114 

The Immoral Independents, Spangenberg, Weickel, 

Vandersloot 114-117 

The Good Independents. J. S. Zubly ...117-120 

Lists and Names 120-123 

Conclusion 121-123 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Hochstadt 45 

Ref. Church at Worms 45 

The Linzebuel Church 64 

The Ref. Church at Philadelphia 64 

Weinheim 80 

Eppingen 80 

Schlatter's Home < 86 

Ordination of a Minister in Amsterdam ...113 

The Cloister Reformed Church at the Hague 113 



I. THE PIETISTS. 



The first German Reformed congregation in North 
America was organized in Virginia, in 1714, by Siegen 
people. 

The principality of Siegen, Stilling' s home, at that 
time was one of the many petty sovereignties consti- 
tuting the German empire. It was a mountainous 
country, not far from the lower Rhine, and was inhab- 
ited by a poor but intelligent population. 

It is true, they lived somewhat isolated, and did not 
come in contact very freely with the big bustling world. 
Trade and industries in our times considered absolutely 
necessary to higher civilization, were not carried on to 
any considerable extent. But they were deeply inter- 
ested in religion ; the number of converted persons was 
quite large among them; they were studying their 
Bibles carefully and regularly ; they were truly enlight- 
ened by the Holy Spirit dwelling in them and in their 
congregations. And they were kept from stagnation by 
frequent intercourse with the pious circles in neigh- 
boring countries. New ideas were constantly conveyed 
to them by spiritually minded visitors coming from 
far and near, and thus a lively interest in the woes and 
joys of Christendom everywhere was fostered. 

Their princes being of the house of Orange, and 
their religion being the Reformed, there naturally was 

7 



8 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



much intercourse between Siegen and Holland, where 
at that time great revivals were going on, brought on 
by the earnest preaching of men like Lodenstein, 
Labadie, and others, during the terrible devastations 
with which bigoted Louis XIV. visited the Nether- 
lands. 

Here it happened that Pastor John Henry F. 
Haegener, of Fischbach, heard of Gov. Spottswood, the 
Virginian, inviting miners to settle in his province for 
the development of its mining resources, and in 171 1 
he started to go there with twelve families, all expert 
in the mining carried on extensively in Siegen. In 1714 
they settled on the Rapidan river, at what is now 
called Germanford, in Virginia. 

It so happened that, in November, 1715, a traveler, 
John Fontain, passing through that part of Virginia, 
spent a few days with them, and afterward published 
an account of what he had seen. He describes their 
settlement as a fortified place palisaded with stakes 
thick enough to resist a musket shot, and driven in 
close together. He found nine houses within, for so 
many families, all built in one line, with sheds for their 
hens and pigs about twenty feet from each house, all 
in line with the dwellings. In the center of the enclos- 
ure there stood a large blockhouse, for a retreat and 
citadel in case hostile Indians should succeed in forc- 
ing the stockade. Its walls were loopholed for muskets. 

Fontain called at the pastor's house for a lodging, 
and was there given some good straw to sleep on, but 
he had nothing to eat; there was no food suitable for 



The Pietists. 



9 



him in the house, nor in the whole settlement, and he 
had to depend on his own provisions brought along. 
But the bread of life was not wanting. That strong 
house in the center was not built for Indian warfare 
only, it also was their spiritual stronghold for pro- 
tection against the lowness of spirit, not to say despair, 
that could not fail to darken their souls in the solitude 
of a trackless wilderness, without all the accustomed 
comforts of life, with hunger and cold, with the hard- 
est of unprofitable work. Once every day the colonists 
met here to find comfort and spiritual strength in 
prayer and psalmody; on Sundays two services were 
held. Their German exercises were not understood by 
the visitor, but their spirit was felt. He says they ap- 
peared very devout, and joined most heartily in the 
singing of psalms. 

In the year 17 19, when Pastor Haegener had grown 
old, and his son, who had taken orders in the Episcopal 
church, could not minister to their wants, they sent one 
of their number, J. C. Zollikofer, to Germany, who 
inserted an appeal for a pastor in a newspaper pub- 
lished in Frankfurt A. M. But nothing came of it. 
.Finally they abandoned their colony, because the gover- 
nor of Virginia refused to give them legal titles to 
their land. Schlatter found them, twenty-five years 
later, in Germantown, Fauquier Co., Va. 

These people did not owe their religion to America, 
but America is indebted to them for bringing it along 
from their home in Germany, which at that time was a 
stronghold of Reformed life. The Palatinate with its 



10 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



university at Heidelberg, the cradle of German relig- 
ious freedom founded on Free Grace, had fallen into 
other hands, but its treasure had been transferred to 
Herborn in the Lower Rhine region. Here Ursinus, 
the brains, and Olevianus, the heart of Reformed doc- 
trine, after they had been driven from Heidelberg, 
taught Christ, the source of true life, and Holy Scrip- 
ture, the standard of true doctrine. And independently 
of their work, all along the lower Rhine from Wesel 
upward to Frankfurt, Reformed congregations had 
been built up by refugees from England, from France, 
and from Holland, men who had loved the Kingdom 
of God better than their country. When their govern- 
ment would force them to worship God in what they 
felt convinced to be an unscriptural and unholy form, 
they had turned their backs on homes as sweet and as 
dear to their hearts as ours are to us. The new congre- 
gations thus formed in their German exile were by 
them named the Churches under the Cross. No golden 
crosses, it is true, glittered from their steeples ; but the 
cross planted and rooted in their hearts was reflecting 
so bright and kindly a light, that many of their Ger- 
man neighbors were attracted by it and united with the 
Church under the Cross. In this way the stanch Re- 
formed Churches of the Lower Rhine had been estab- 
lished, which to this day are towers of strength and 
beacons of light in Jesus Christ. Peter Minuit, the first 
good governor of New Amsterdam, had come from 
them, and later on many of their elect followed. 

They loved liberty, not in lawless license, but in 



The Pietists. 



11 



Christ, who can make men free indeed, since He was 
obedient to death, even to the death on the cross. Such 
freedom made them worthy of citizenship in this new 
world, which God in His wisdom for many centuries 
had hidden from European civilization with its kings 
and popes, until the time was fulfilled, when the Re- 
formation began to bring out the full stature of man- 
hood in Christ, adult Christianity so to speak, weaned 
from the leading-strings of childhood. Christendom in 
the new world was not to be hampered by the institu- 
tions and traditions of the pre-reformation age. Its 
liberty must luxuriate in virgin soil. 

But although Lower Rhineland was the first to send 
a few of her best children to the land of freedom, Up- 
per Rhineland soon sent ten thousands of people not 
to be despised either. Here was the Palatinate janth its 
vineclad hills and its waving wheat fields, the home of 
the Heidelberg catechism testifying to the christian's 
personal experience of guilt and misery as well as of 
salvation found and felt, and the home of Frederik III, 
who alone in the Great Diet of Catholic and Lutheran 
dignitaries confessed his Reformed convictions "even 
if it should cost him a cap full of blood." 

His house had been blessed of God, until Frederick V. 
became king of Bohemia and was on the point of mak- 
ing the Reformed Church the leading one in Germany. 
But he failed most miserably, and Ichabod was written 
over the doors of her temples and palaces. Then came 
the war of thirty years, arid the rule of Roman Catholic 
electors, and the intrigues of Jesuits, and finally Louis 



12 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



XIV. of France sent Melac with fire and sword to re- 
duce the cities to ruins and the fields to a wilderness. 

But man's necessity is God's opportunity. To the 
Palatinate church lying in her blood by the wayside he 
said: "Thou shalt live." Fifteen thousand Palatines fled 
down the Rhine to Holland, and thence to England. 
Encamping in the outskirts of London, they were cared 
for by Queen Anne and by noble-minded Englishmen ; 
even the savage Mohawk chiefs from the province of 
New York, who at that time were staying in London, 
befriended them and invited them to their fertile lands 
on the Mohawk, up the Hudson river. 

About three thousand of these Palatines were trans- 
ported to the province of New York, but were there 
held in severe servitude. A large portion of them then 
made their way to the Mohawk, but after they had 
cleared their fields, were told that they could not own 
their lands. Once more they then arose, and hearing of 
Perm's just and liberal rule in Pennsylvania, they 
place3 Olemselves under the guidance of Conrad 
Weiser, one of their own young men who had made 
friends of the Indians. He guided them over the moun- 
tains to the sources of the Susquehanna, down which 
river they floated with their cattle and household 
goods, until they reached the beautiful banks of the 
Swatara. Here at last they found a permanent home 
where the swallow could build her nest and rear her 
young. In the course of time, many thousands of 
their friends followed them, and Eastern Pennsylvania 
became the new home of the Reformed Palatinate 




The Pietists. 



13 



church. More than one hundred years ago, the electors 
of the Palatinate following the Reformed instincts of 
tolerance, had offered an asylum to the Mennonites, 
whom neither Catholic nor Lutheran would tolerate in 
their lands. Now the Quakers paid back the debt o£ 
gratitude for their fellow sectarians and verified God's 
promise: "Cast thy bread upon the waters, and after 
many years thou shalt find it again," Eccl. xi:i. 

Rhineland begins in Switzerland and ends in Hol- 
land, and the whole basin, from the snowclad Alps to 
the seawashed dykes, teams with an industrious and 
liberty-loving population, the light and the salt of 
which are the sons and daughters of the Reformed 
Church that give tone and character to its life. Nor 
were they to prove a blessing at home only ; they were 
also to have their share in the making of America. 
From every one of the countries of the Rhine, not from 
the Palatinate only, or Siegen, or Nassau, but from 
Switzerland also, and from the borders of Holland, a 
large number of earnest Christians came to the Amer- 
ican settlements early enough to exert a permanent in- 
fluence on the formation of their character. 

We have no full records of their exact numbers, but 
in Dr. Good's History the names of more than one 
hundred of the earliest Reformed ministers are given, 
and in most cases their places of nativity, and it seems 
quite safe to assume that, generally speaking, the people 
came from the same countries with their pastors. 

According to Prof. Hinke's latest list containing the 



14 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



names of one hundred and ten Reformed pastors in 
America from 1725-1792 

Twenty came from Switzerland, 

Twenty-nine from the Palatinate, 

Five from the Lower Rhine, 

Eight from Westphalia, 

Thirteen from Hessen and Nassau, 

One from Holland, 

Nine from other parts of Germany, viz,, Hanover, 
Magdeburg, Anhalt, Tyrol, mostly coming from col- 
onies of Hugenot refugees there. 

Four were born in America, and of twenty-one their 
place of nativity is unknown. 

The greater moiety of these, sixty-one, had taken a 
regular theological course of study at Reformed uni- 
versities, and that then meant that they were well 
grounded in the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination. 
It did not mean, however, the stricter form of it, supra- 
Jlapsarianism teaching that God from all eternity, be- 
fore Adam's fall in paradise, foreordained and elected 
those that were to be saved and that Christ died for 
them only. It meant infralapsarianism as formulated 
in the famous canons of Dort, 1619, that Christ's death 
and blood is a sufficient ransom for all humanity, and 
that after Adam's fall God fore-ordained in Christ 
those that were to repent, to believe, and to be saved. It 
did not mean that God forces repentance and faith upon 
His elect as if they were sticks or stones, but it meant 
that through the means of grace, by the Holy Ghost, 



The Pietists. 



15 



he instructs and persuades and convinces them of the 
truth as it is in Jesus. 

In those times theology was in the air. In our ma- 
terialistic age we are hardly able to form a conception 
of such a state of things. In our times the leaders of 
people are indifferent to theology, and the laboring 
men hostile to it, but in those times kings and states- 
men took a vital interest in theological questions, and, 
in forming their alliances and planning their policy, 
were to a large extent guided by theological issues. In 
every university the theological faculty took the lead 
of all others ; public education was intensely religious ; 
the great apostacy of the last days had then not yet pro- 
duced that shameful slighting of spiritual things which 
now is limiting religious instruction to the few that are 
not entirely given to the pursuit of worldly things. 

Under such circumstances, with the establishment of 
the calvinistic doctrine in any state its people were 
taught that salvation came not by human effort; that 
nobody can save himself ; that without grace divine no- 
body may love God nor his neighbor, but all are prone 
to disobey every divine commandment ; that in order to 
be saved, we must humbly pray for light divine and life 
divine, and patiently, perseveringly wait on God in the 
attitude of penitent prayer until it pleases Him in His 
infinite compassion to grant us pardon and parental 
love, without any merit or worthiness whatever on our 
part, for Christ's sake only. 

It is true that at present the state-church-system is 
not favorable to personal experience of religion in its 



16 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



clergy. At present, candidates for the ministry in Ger- 
many are examined for license by government officials, 
who would hardly ask them whether they have received 
the Holy Ghost. Examining boards of today there in- 
quire into the scientific attainments, and at the best 
into the moral character of applicants. But in those 
times the classes and the synods had not yet yielded to 
the state their right and duty to examine and license 
candidates, and, in consequence, the ministers who then 
came over, as a rule, were men not only well grounded 
in doctrine, but also matured in personal piety. 
Some were more than that ; they were 

PIETISTS. 

The name of Pietists came into use about the year 
1680, when a Lutheran minister from the Elsace, 
Speener by name, who during his stay at the Strass- 
burg University had become acquainted with Re- 
formed views and practices, introduced them in his 
pastoral work at Frankfurt A. M. The Reformed made 
a regular practice of holding prayer-meetings; they 
were administering church discipline; they made a 
point of teaching that true Christians during their life- 
time receive, through the Spirit, an assurance of for- 
giveness and of their heavenly inheritance. Among the 
Reformed people these things were looked upon as a 
time-honored practice, but in Lutheran circles they 
challenged attention and opposition, and soon a name 
was found for what they considered a more than doubt- 
ful innovation. They called it pietism, or piety over- 



The Pietists. 



17 



done. The opprobrious term, very improperly, from 
the Lutherans passed over into those circles of the Re- 
formed church, where lukewarmness and worldliness 
had come to prevail, and where ardent love of Christ 
and full consecration to His service had come to be 
looked upon as cant and caprice. 

Let us now, for an illustration of this "Pietism" in 
the Reformed church, hear the story of a Swiss pastor 
that came to Philadelphia in 1710, 

SAMUEL GULDIN. 

He was born in Bern, Switzerland, in 1664, an d re- 
ceived his education in the same city, preparatory to the 
ministry. In a pamphlet of his, an apology of his so- 
called pietistic practices, he has transmitted to posterity 
an interesting account of his early life, from which the 
following is taken : 

There were four of us, Samuel Guldin, Jacob Dachs, 
Samuel Schumacher, and Christopher Lutz who, in 1689, 
determined to make a trip from Bern to Geneva. We re- 
solved to make it a distinctively christian journey, to avoid 
the vain disputes common among students, and to gather 
heavenly treasure. While at Geneva, Lutz took sick. 
During this sickness not only was he brought to a profound 
realization of his spiritul condition, but all of us, who be- 
fore never could be one of mind, were now so well united 
in spirit, that ever since we have remained faithful to each 
other. This happened in Geneva, Calvin's city. Then 
we journeyed together to Lausanne, and ever after held 
daily meetings in the morning and in the evening, to wor- 
ship God. 

In August, 1692, Guldin, then 28 years old, was 
made pastor at Stettlen, one league east of Bern. He 



18 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



was a pious and earnest minister, but not yet satisfied 
with his own inner life. He had no* the full peace of 
God. He lacked the certain assurance of having been 
made perfect in Christ. He did not expect moral sin- 
lessness, but a perfect imputation of Christ's merits to 
his own soul, and a certain, permanent knowledge of 
the same, as taught in the Heidelberg catechism, ques- 
tion 60: 

How art thou righteous before God? 
Only through true faith in Jesus Christ; thus, that al- 
though my conscience convicts me that I have grievously 
sinned against all the commands of God, and never kept any 
of them, yea, still am prone to all evi], nevertheless God 
without any merit of mine, from mere mercy, donates and 
imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and 
holiness of Christ, as if I never had committed or harbored 
any sin, and as if I had rendered all the obedience, which 
Christ performed for me, on the sole condition of my ac- 
cepting that benefit with a believing heart. 

On Christmas, 1792, Schuhmacher informed Gul- 
din by letter that he had passed from darkness to the 
light. This made so deep an impression on Guldin's 
mind, and he felt so dissatisfied with his own condition, 
that he determined upon abandoning the ministry, be- 
cause entirely unfit for it and unworthy of it. But on 
the day fixed upon for writing out his resignation, the 
longed-for experience of a change of heart came. He 
has given a full account of it, which will be here re- 
peated in his own words. We will add only, that, like 
John the Apostle, John 1 139, he remembered for life 
the very hour when he found the Lord, and that like 
Paul, he frequently told the story to others. 



The Pietists. 



19 



On the fourth of August 1693, between nine and ten 
in the morning, the light of faith rose and was born within 
me. At that hour all my doubts and scruples passed away, 
and never afterward affected me. And I began to preach 
with a new power so that all my congregation noticed the 
change that had taken place in my soul. 

After this, he no more preached doctrine in lifeless 
words, but testified to the Gospel as he had experienced 
its power. He no more belonged to those who believe 
because taught by men or books, but because they have 
heard Christ himself, John iv : 42. Now his preaching 
became so forceful and impressive that great crowds 
were attracted by it from other parishes as well as 
from his own, for the wt>rd of God had grown scarce 
in those days. The fame of his powerful preaching 
spread far and wide ; three years later he was called to 
Bern, the capital of Switzerland, as assistant preacher 
in the largest church there, where thousands might be 
benefited by his preaching. 

But it was not to be so. His friend Lutz, when he 
heard of his election to that place, wrote him a letter 
of congratulation, in which, unfortunately, some dis- 
paraging remarks about the clergy of Bern occurred, 
and that letter fell into the hands of the authorities 
just at a time when their minds were rather strongly 
exercised over the emotional and sensational preaching 
of a certain Koenig. He was an upright and earnest 
man, but thought that the millenium was then on the 
point of coming, and when preaching on that subject 
had indulged in frequent sharp criticisms of the clergy 
and the government. In consequence, Koenig and Lutz 



20 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



and Guldin were summoned to appear before the High 
Council and were there bidden to sign a renunciation 
of certain commendations of revivalism published by 
the Reformed Theological Seminary of Saumur, 
France, which had attracted general attention, and 
which the Berne authorities considered responsible for 
the attitude taken by Koenig, Lutz and Guldin. 

But the three delinquents could not be prevailed up- 
on to sign the document, and, in punishment, Koenig 
was banished, and Guldin's call was revoked. Lutz 
was permitted to remain. Guldin was appointed pas- 
tor of an obscure village in the rough mountains, where 
he labored for a short time and then concluded to emi- 
grate to America. 

We have no definite account of his work here. He 
arrived in 1710, and bought the first plantation he saw, 
not far from Philadelphia, at Roxbury. Here he seems 
to have stayed and to have worked as a farmer, to sup- 
port his family. He did not content himself with farm- 
ing, however, but held meetings and preached where- 
ever an opportunity presented itself. And that could 
not but happen quite frequently, since there was quite 
a numerous population of churchly Swiss and Germans 
around him. The heart of a God-called minister filled 
with the love of Jesus must at all times, in season and 
out of season, give utterance to the abundance of its 
sacred thoughts, and it is just such informal preaching 
that leads to the organization of the best churches. 
That he was preaching to good purpose may be inferred 
from the fact that soon after his arrival we hear of 



The Pietists. 



21 



Reformed congregations in Philadelphia and German- 
town. He is said to have preached regularly in Rox- 
bury and Oley, and later on in this narrative we shall 
hear him raise his voice in defense of the Reformed 
church with such a sense of authority as leaves little 
doubt of his having been an influential leader in the 
church-circles there. 

Eight years after his arrival he published in book- 
form an apology of his own and his friends' pastoral 
work in Switzerland, entitled, Defence of the Unjustly 
Persecuted Pietists in Bern. The book is still in ex- 
istence and presents a clear and reliable synopsis of his 
views and principles. 

He had been accused of reading and circulating 
mystical books, and frankly admits the fact, but 
although he found many dark statements in them, ob- 
scure and unintelligible to his mind, he protests that 
the Council of Bern had no right to forbid reading 
them. 

He had been charged with teaching that a Christian 
may become perfectly sinless in this life, but he explains 
that there is taught by scripture a certain perfection in 
Christ — Hebr. v:i4, "Strong meat belongs to them 
that are of full age, or perfect;" Phil, iii : 15, "As many 
as are perfect." The term perfect, Guldin says, is there 
frequently used in the sense of one that relies abso- 
lutely on the merits of Christ Jesus. 

He had been charged with asserting that ungodly 
persons should not be admitted to the Lord's supper 
and that nobody should presume to preach the Gospel 



22 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



and administer the Sacraments without an inner, divine 
call. To this charge he freely pleads guilty, but main- 
tains that here he stands on good ground. For certain, 
no apology is needed for it. 

The same is true of the next charge, that in his 
preaching he did not always speak with pastoral dig- 
nity and propriety, but would often use the phraseology 
of conversational language. In his answer, Guldin 
very correctly calls attention to the fact that Christ 
himself in His preaching did the same thing. 

Then follows the charge that without proper au- 
thority he held prayer-meetings at which, sometimes, 
even Anabaptists and Mennonites would be present. 
But what "proper authority" does a pastor need in 
his own Congregation for the holding of such meetings ? 
If Guldin had been reprimanded for neglecting to hold 
prayer-meetings, an apology might have been necessary. 

Our readers, however, must not be left under the 
impression that the Reformed church as such is hostile 
to prayer-meetings and personal experience of salva- 
tion. There have been times when such was the case in 
certain localities, but the opposition could be but 
temporary. Nor did the church of Bern form an ex- 
ception to the rule. Not many years passed by before 
the Bern church formally and officially receded from 
its condemnation of the Pietists. In 1730, twenty years 
later, Koenig was recalled from his banishment and 
even was created professor of theology; Lutz never 
had been deposed, and in his latter years received pub- 



The Pietists. 



23 



lie recognition of his valuable and splendid work; 
Dachs was made dean of the whole Bern church. 

JOHN H. GOETSCHI. 

Seventeen years after Guldin's publication of his 
apology, in 1735, another Swiss minister, Moritz 
Goetschi, arrived in Philadelphia, bringing with him' a 
colony of four hundred Swiss originally intended for 
the Carolinas, which at that time had many Swiss im- 
migrants. Like Guldin he had received a full univer- 
sity training, but he was not unblamable like him in 
character. His career and the manner in which he con- 
ducted his scheme of colonization seem open to well- 
grounded suspicions as to his sincerity and reliability. 
If, however, he erred, he also suffered for it. His jour- 
ney from Switzerland to Holland, from there to Eng- 
land, and thence over the ocean, proved an unbroken 
chain of misfortunes, troubles, disappointments, and 
hardships. 

By the time of his arrival in Philadelphia, a Re- 
formed congregation had been organized there under 
Pastor Weiss, from the Palatinate, in 1727, and he had 
served the congregation for some years. After him, on 
April 24, 1734, the well-known Boehm, whose work 
is described more fully later on, had been elected to 
preach there every fourth Sunday. That was all he 
could do, since he had a number of other places to sup- 
ply with his ministrations, and even that little could 
not be done with any degree of regularity. 

When, therefore, the Philadelphia people heard that 



24 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



a Swiss minister had arrived, their elders came on 
board to welcome him and to secure his services. They 
found him so weak from the hardships of the ocean- 
journey that he could not walk, but such was their 
desire for a minister that they placed him on a chair 
and carried him to the house of a friend. Here a de- 
lightful hour was spent in the exchange of greetings 
and news, so refreshing that they would gladly have 
made it a full day, but that Pastor Goetschi complained 
of a strange darkness clouding his eyesight and of 
great weariness. Meantime a bed had been made ready 
for him up stairs and they now carried him there, but 
before the head of the stairs could be reached, he sat 
down, folded his arms across his breast, lifted his eyes 
to heaven, and expired. 

Fortunately, his son John H. Goetschi, a student of 
theology, who had come over with him, could be pre- 
vailed upon under these affecting circumstances to 
take his father's place. He was only seventeen years 
old, but the people insisted upon his becoming their 
pastor. He preached twice every Sunday, morning and 
evening, and after each service held catechization. Be- 
sides in Philadelphia, he also preached in a number of 
country places. All this was done rather irregularly, 
for he had not received ordination to the ministry. He 
had applied for it with the Presbyterians, but they had 
recommended him to wait until he would have com- 
pleted his studies. Another irregularity was that he was 
intruding upon the pastoral labors of Boehm, one of 
the leading pioneer ministers, whose life is fully 



The Pietists. 



25 



described later on. Nor could young Goetschi maintain 
his position longer than four years. Still he seems to 
have been an earnest preacher. From Philadelphia he 
went to New York in 1740, where he was called by con- 
gregations in Long Island. There he united with the 
Dutch Reformed church, his ministry was blessed with 
great revivals, and he occupied, among other honorable 
positions of trust, that of a trustee to Queen's College. 

JOHN PETER MILLER. 

John Peter Miller is the representative of a some- 
what different type of Reformed pioneers in America, 
not a pietist, but a mystic, i. e., given to a contempla- 
tive, retired life of vision and rapture rather than to 
public activity. 

He was the son of a Reformed minister in the Palati- 
nate, and absolved his theological studies at the Heidel- 
berg University, but before receiving his ordination, he 
emigrated to America, and arrived in Philadelphia, in 
1730, before the times of Goetschi. A few weeks after 
his arrival he presented himself for ordination before 
the Presbyterian Synod in session there just at that 
time. This body examined him carefully and was very 
favorably impressed with him, Dr. Andrews writing, 
"He speaks Latin as well as we speak our native 
language/' and they ordained him. 

The reason why he applied for ordination with the 
Presbyterians rather than with the Reformed church 
was that the German Reformed had no synodical or- 
ganization and that the Dutch church was rather dis- 



26 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



tant Boehm, who had in the preceding year, 1729, 
received his ordination from the Dutch in New York, 
after much wearisome delay, wanted him to follow his 
example, but Mueller, like most German newcomers in 
America, had wrong ideas of liberty, confounding law- 
lessness with it. The difference of liberty from servi- 
tude is not in the absence of law, but in one's attitude 
toward the law. The slavish servant obeys the laws 
upon compulsion, of necessity, but the free citizen, 
from choice, willingly, having himself had his share 
in their making. But Mueller said to Boehm that "In 
this land of glorious liberty Christians are free, and 
Christ alone is their head." He forgot that Christ, our 
Lord and Master, does not rule arbitrarily but accord- 
ing to well established laws and forms. 

As an ordained minister Mueller served the Philadel- 
phia congregation one year only. In the country con- 
gregations he succeeded better and might finally have 
settled down to permanent usefulness, had he not fallen 
in with one of God's curiosities, a man named Conrad 
Beissel. 

He was a leader of Seventh Day Dunkards, or Bap- 
tists, who aimed at a life of sinless perfection to be 
reached by withdrawing from the world and even 
from family-life. They taught that sin began to enter 
this world when Adam desired a helpmate, by whom he 
was afterwards seduced. To avoid the snares of the 
world they had built a large monastery in Ephrata, Pa. 

Beissel resolved to convert to his faith the Reformed 
ministers that began to arrive, since they were more 



The Pietists. 



27 



spiritual than the Lutherans. Every day he prayed to 
God on his knees to "Give him one of these preachers 
for the better carrying on of God's work." First he 
prayed for the conversion of Rev. Rieger, a fellow stu- 
dent of Mueller, who had come before Mueller and 
was preaching in those parts. But Rieger married, and 
Beissel complained to God: "O Lord, thou sufferest 
them to spoil on my very hands." But nothing daunted 
he next turned his attention to Mueller, and with him 
he succeeded. At the same time he also gained over 
Conrad Weiser, the man that led the Palatines from 
the Mohawk to the Swatara, three elders, and ten 
heads of Reformed and Lutheran families. On one 
day all were immersed, and the solemnity of the oc- 
casion was hightened by piling up some catechisms, 
hymn-books, and prayer-books, and burning them pub- 
licly, because they were the works of man and not of 
God. 

However, the impression made did not last long. 
All but Mueller soon returned to their mother 
church. He took the new baptismal name of Jabez. 
I Chron. iv:io, "And Jabez was more honorable than 
his brethren, and his mother called his name Jabez, 
i. e., sorrowful. And Jabez called upon the God of 
Israel, saying, O that thou wouldst bless me indeed, 
and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand would be 
with me, and that thou wouldst keep me from evil, that 
it might not grieve me. And God granted him that 
which he requested." 

Of the Jabez in the Bible nothing else is known. 



28 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



Few Bible students if asked who he was would know 
anything about him. The name was chosen, probably, 
for that very reason. Nor did the people know him by 
that name, although he continued to live in the cloister 
until his death, in 1796, more than sixty years. They 
called him Peter the Hermit. He did not entirely sub- 
ordinate himself to the rules of the order, but as he 
loved a quiet life, and had literary tastes, and the 
Ephrata Society had a printing press there and pub- 
lished many devotional books, he had no lack of con- 
genial work to occupy his mind. Beissel wanted him 
to labor as a preacher, but Mueller refused to comply. 

When he had grown quite old, during the Revolu- 
tionary War, an opportunity was presented to prove in 
an unmistakable and ever memorable way, how genuine 
his faith was. There was living in Ephrata a fanatical 
enemy and persecutor of the cloister-people, base- 
minded, full of gall and bitterness, in every possible 
way ever ready to harm them. He was also a Tory, 
and as such was detected in treasonable attempts 
against the government of the United States. He was 
seized, tried, and condemned to be hanged. 

As soon as Mueller heard of it, he set out on foot 
and walked sixty miles to Washington's headquarters, 
to intercede for the condemned. The general listened 
to his appeal with his habitual kindness, but answered 
that sorry as he was to disappoint Mueller, his un- 
fortunate friend could not be pardoned — he must die. 

"My unfortunate friend/' exclaimed Mueller, "why, 
I have no greater enemy in the world than that man." 



The Pietists. 



29 



"What," rejoined Washington, "and you have 
walked sixty miles to save an enemy's life ! That puts 
matters in an altogether different light. I grant your 
prayer." 

The pardon was made out and without delay Mueller 
went on foot fifteen miles to the place where on that 
afternoon the execution was to take place. He arrived 
in the nick of time; the culprit was just on his last walk 
to the gallows. 

"There," he cried, when he caught sight of the old 
man, "there is old Peter Mueller, who has walked all 
the way from Ephrata to see me hang." 



So little do such men know of God's children. Let 
us hope that he made use of the remainder of his life 
to repent, and that he learned to love Peter Mueller and 
his Savior. 

The writers of history do not generally place on rec- 
ord the names of true heroes like Mueller. The world 
does not care for them. But we will not forget them. 
We thank God for them; we praise Him for having 
placed in the galaxy of the truly heroical pioneers of 
America such men as Haegener, Guldin, and John Peter 
Mueller, side by side with the followers of William 
Penn and Roger Williams, the Puritans and the Pil- 
grims. 



3 



II. THE MORAVIANS. 



About fifty years after the rise of Pietism in Ger- 
many, Count Zinzendorf founded the Moravian com- 
munity. He had himself received a pietistic training, 
but in addition to what the pietist Lutherans had 
learned from the Reformed, he learned new truths from 
the Moravian remnants of Hussites and Bohemian 
Protestants, who had been persecuted by the bigoted 
Austrian government for centuries with unrelenting 
and constantly increasing violence. Under the cross 
they had learned to govern themselves as a church en- 
tirely free from state control, and when upon Zinzen- 
dorf s invitation they built the city of Herrnhut on his 
lands, Zinzendorf making common cause with them, 
they succeeded in establishing the first Christian church 
in Germany free from state control — a great advance 
upon the Lutheran conception of churches governed by 
princes and civil magistrates. 

In point of doctrine, he overcame the somewhat nar- 
row views of the Pietists on conversion. They held that 
to become a genuine Christian one must pass through 
a severe agony of repentance succeeded by transports 
of joy over pardon obtained from God, and that no 
one may claim the comforts and privileges of a true 
believer, who cannot point to a day on which he passed 
through such experience. But Zinzendorf knew Christ 

30 



The Moravians. 



31 



from childhood ; in fact, from infancy. His first child- 
ish attempts in penmanship and composition consisted 
in letters addressed to Jesus and cast out of the win- 
dows to be born heavenward by the winds. His plays 
as a boy in school culminated in the organization of 
the Mustard Seed Order, for united prayer and work. 
Unconscious of any special hour when he had accepted 
Christ, he had grown and waxed strong in spirit, filled 
with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him — 
Luke ii : 40. From his own experience, then, he could 
not but reject the theory that made an agony of re- 
pentance once experienced the test of saving faith. 

As for a doctrinal standard, he retained the pietistic 
laxity of doctrine. He did not consider creeds essential 
elements in the foundation of the church. Himself no 
theologian, he preferred the enjoyment of devotional 
exercises in closet and conventicle to systematic re- 
search. Although he called himself a Lutheran, he felt 
perfectly free to identify himself with God's people in 
every other denomination. From the very beginning he 
organized his new church on a union-basis. Its official 
name was the Unitas Fratrum (Union of Brethren). 

Men might enter this Union without giving up their 
denominational peculiarities, and they might, further- 
more, form groups in which to cultivate them. These 
groups were called Tropes. There was to be a Luth- 
eran Tropus, a Reformed Tropus, e. a. The term was 
derived from a Greek word used in Phil. 1 :i8, where 
Paul speaks of some men preaching Christ in conten- 
tion, but does not complain of it; he rather rejoices in 



32 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



that, "Every way, whether in pretence or in truth, 
Christ is preached; and I therein rejoice, yea and will 
rejoice." The word way stands for the Greek tropos. 

Quite a number of Lutherans and Reformed fell in 
with Zinzendorf s plan and formed Tropes in connec- 
tion with the new church. But a much larger number 
of adherents came from various sects in the Palatinate, 
in Siegen, in Wittgenstein, and some other Reformed 
states in the Lower Rhine region. In those times the 
Lutheran and the Catholic princes did not tolerate 
/ sects; their subjects must have the religion of their 
rulers. But the Reformed were more tolerant and of- 
fered them asylums in their territories. Some of these 
sectarians indulged in mystical speculations and 
claimed to have special inspirations and visions reveal- 
ing to them the near advent of the millenium. They 
interpreted the seven congrations named in Revelation 
ii. and iii. to mean seven periods in the history of the 
church. In the order of these chapters the one of 
Laodicea comes last and that of Philadelphia second 
last. Now Philadelphia means Brotherly Love, and on 
this ground the Moravian church, the Unity of Breth- 
ren, was thought to usher in the second-last period, 
and the promise given Rev. iii : 7, was applied to them, 
"I will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which 
shall come upon all the earth." Possibly, the city of 
Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, may have received its 
name on similar grounds, for Wm. Penn always main- 
tained an intimate intercourse with sects in Germany. 
These pious members of sects and of the Reformed 



The Moravians. 



33 



and the Lutheran church seem to have known Jesus, 
Him whom to know means to love Him, and not only 
to love Him, but also to love Him better than their own 
church community. The better men love Christ, the 
more they enjoy fellowship with Christ's own in other 
denominations. But how to temper such largeness of 
heart with loyalty to the church, that is a problem not 
easy to solve, and the mildness of the Reformed 
people, their liberality, and tolerance of other Christ- 
ians has frequently misled them into an indiscreet zeal 
for fellowship with men of other churches, and to a 
fatal disregard of ecclesiastical duties. They would 
break the outward form of the church so necessary to its 
work and its very existence, as one breaks the shell of 
a nut to get at the kernel, thus killing its very life and 
its power of germination. 

Let us now see how the Reformed pioneers in 
Pennsylvania had to wrestle with the problem of liber- 
ality combined with loyalty. 

When Zinzendorf, in Nov., 1741, came to America, 
he found in the Reformed congregations many pious 
souls most favorably disposed, having been well pre- 
pared for his coming by active members of the Morav- 
ian settlements in Bethlehem and other places of 
Pennsylvania. They had been informed of his won- 
derful achievements. He also brought along with him 
a number of amiable Reformed companions, pious, 
earnest, and spiritual in their conversation, among 
whom his own almost supernaturally lovely face 
beaming with the happiness of a child-like faith and 



34 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



reflecting the full peace of a consecrated life, shone 
forth like a sun among his planets. 

One of these companions was John Brandmueller, 
a bookkeeper from Reformed Basel, but now a member 
of the Moravian congregation there, well gifted in 
speech. Later on he was ordained to the ministry here. 

Another such was Clir. H. Ranch, who became a 
famous missionary among the Indians. To his minis- 
try an Indian chief once bore this testimony : 

"Other missionaries came before him. They 
preached we must not steal nor get drunk, but the 
birds of the trees had sung that message into our ears 
long before they came, and our hearts remained cold 
and hard as stones. Then this man came and told us 
that the Son of God loved us and suffered for our sins 
on a cross, and at his words our hearts became like 
wax in the noon-sun. I then was like a poor worm, 
around which a circle of dry leaves is burning. The 
worm creeps one way for to escape, but is turned back 
by the burning fire; it creeps another way, but the 
flames drive it back again; it creeps many ways, but all 
in vain. Finally it curls up in despair and lies down in 
the center, to die. Then, when I was nearly dead, lo, 
an arm reached down from heaven and a hand took me 
up and saved me." 

Thus the untutored mind of the savage had appre- 
hended the gospel, saved by grace, the story told by 
one who knew it by heart, i. e., by experience. 

This same Rauch finally served a number of Re- 
formed congregations in Eastern Pennsylvania. 



The Moravians. 



35 



Another bright star in this constellation was John 
Lischy, a weaver by trade, from the Elsass. There he 
had been awakened in a Moravian meeting to a sense 
of his need of a Savior. After that he had visited 
Herrnhuth and other hearths of the sacred fire, 
and all aglow with it he now came with Zinzendorf, 
soon to be ordained and to be made the leading spirit 
of the Reformed Trope. Like Rauch, he finally served 
a number of Reformed congregations with acceptance 
and success. 

Their number was soon augmented by the Ameri- 
cans whom the Moravian leaders resident in Bethle- 
hem had prepared for Zinzendorf's coming. 

Henry Antes, a native of the Palatinate, was an in- 
fluential elder of the Reformed congregation, at Falk- 
ner's Swamp. He enjoyed general confidence for his 
integrity and sound judgment as well as for his earn- 
est piety. He seems to have been well educated, for 
whenever any legal business was to be done, his neigh- 
bors would come to him for advice and for the mak- 
ing out of documents. Seven years before Zinzendorf 
came, Spangenberg, Zinzendorf s theologian, had com- 
menced visiting Antes, and had so well prepared the 
ground that Zinzendorf came to see him almost im- 
mediately after his arrival in Philadelphia, and could 
at once induce him to issue a circular calling upon all 
who longed for a union of God's people to meet for 
prayer and deliberation in Germantown, now a suburb 
of Philadelphia. 

The Reformed congregation of Germantown at that 



36 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



time was served by John Bechtel, one of those pious 
men without a theological training who then were of- 
ficiating in Reformed congregations. By trade he was 
a turner, nor had he given up working at the turning 
lathe in his own workshop after he had been called to 
the ministry. In his youth he had been converted, after 
he had sowed his wild oats quite recklessly. Then he 
had married and had emigrated from his home in the 
Palatinate in 1726, together with a large number of his 
countrymen. He had settled in Germantown, and there 
he had for two years given his time to the cares and 
labors of pioneer life, and to the establishment of his 
mind in the knowledge and the love of his God. His 
home had become a temple of the Holy Spirit, and his 
heart the abode of Christ. And since Christ never can 
be idle, Bechtel, for whom to live was Christ, could not 
be inactive with him. He held prayer-meetings every 
morning and every evening on week-days, also on 
Sundays. By the Reformed people of those days such 
exercises were looked upon with much favor, and four 
years later the leading men of the congregation just 
then engaged in building a church,* thought that even 

*In Dr. Good's History the laying of the corner stone is said 
to have occurred in 1719; the same date is given in Dubbs' 
American Church History, viii : p. 245, and in Hallische Nach- 
richten. But the Swedish pastor, Dylander, who laid the cor- 
nerstone, did not come to Pennsylvania before 1737, eighteen 
years later, and one of the Germantown elders writes in a 
letter dated July 14, 1744: "Some ten years ago four members 
of this congregation did their very best to build a church." 

Also Boehm says in his letter of Oct. 28, 1734, that the con- 
gregation had indeed made good progress with the building 
of their church, but was heavily oppressed with debts. 

W. J. HINKE- 



The Moravians. 



37 



if Bechtel lacked education and ordination, he would be 
the suitable man to build up the church. Bechtel was 
given a call and entered upon his pastorate in 1733. 

Like Antes, Bechtel had held frequent intercourse 
with the Moravians, especially with Spangenberg, and 
had come to think very highly of them. His address 
had been furnished to Zinzendorf in Europe, and no 
sooner had Zinzendorf landed in New York, even be- 
fore coming to Philadelphia, than he sent him a letter to 
Germantown with an invitation, appointing the time 
and place for an interview in Philadelphia. Bechtel 
felt perplexed; he hesitated to commit himself; but 
one of his daughters urged him on, and when her argu- 
ments and entreaties failed to overcome his doubts, she 
ran into the pasture behind their house, caught her 
father's horse and soon had it bridled and saddled in 
front of the house. Such ardent appeal was not to 
be resisted. Bechtel went to see the remarkable man, 
and on the next day the remarkable man came to see 
Bechtel. And a complete conquest resulted, so complete 
that the first conference of The Congregation of God 
in the Spirit, for such was the official title of the new 
organization, could be called to meet in Bechtel's 
church. Zinzendorf was invited also to preach a series 
of sermons there. 

A third friend of the Moravians was John Barth. 
Rieger, the fellow-student of Mueller, whom Conrad 
Beissel had tried so hard to convert to mysticism, now 
pastor of the Reformed congregation at Lancaster. He 
had previously become acquainted with the Moravians, 



38 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



perhaps with Zinzendorf himself, when studying in 
Basel. Zinzendorf now paid him a visit in Lancaster 
and received a cordial welcome. From his pulpit, on 
next Sunday, Rieger highly commended the great 
leader and his cause. 

After these preparations the conference was held in 
Germantown on January I and 2. The Lutherans, the 
Reformed, the Mennonites, the Seventh-Day Dunk- 
ards of Ephrata, the Schwenkfeldians, the Inspired, 
and the Separatists were represented, a queer crowd, 
but they made up by sincerity for what may have been 
lacking in dignity. As was to be expected, the proceed- 
ings were not altogether harmonious, and some com- 
plaint was made about Zinzendorf s rather imperious 
manner. Probably some of these curious saints with 
more imagination than common sense could not well 
be curbed without a bold assumption of authority on 
the leader's part. Nevertheless, some good results were 
reached sufficiently encouraging to proceed with the 
work and to hold six more conventions in the five 
subsequent months, and a permanent organization was 
effected, a basis on which to w r ork together. 

Of the Reformed Trope, consisting of Reformed 
ministers and congregations joining the new union, 
Bechtel was made Inspector, and he was authorized to 
write and publish a new catechism for their use. That 
was a fatal error. If the Reformed Trope was to con- 
sist of men continuing to hold Reformed views, no 
such office should have been created, and no such au- 
thority should have been given to one man. The Re- 



The Moravians. 



39 



formed church holds fast to the parity of all its minis- 
ters and elders as taught by Christ, Luke xxiii :8, "For 
one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are 
brethren/' Nor could they substitute a new catechism 
for the Heidelberg, if they would claim to stay 
Reformed. But they objected to questions 81 and 114, 
where the necessity of a continued repentance and 
a daily conversion of believers is taught, and where the 
most pious are said to make but a very small beginning 
in keeping the laws of God. 

To vest Bechtel's new catechism with more authority, 
and to make it more palatable, it was said to be based 
on the Canons and Essentials of Christian Faith pro- 
mulgated by the Synod of Bern, in the early days of 
the Reformation, in 1532. But the claim cannot be sus- 
tained. In point of fact, Bechtel's catechism passes by 
in absolute silence the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Com- 
mandments, the Lord's Prayer, the doctrine of the 
Trinity, and other "essentials." Of baptism it says that 
it was instituted in memory of Christ, and the Lord's 
supper is ignored entirely. 

On the other hand, the book is not without its 
merits. Like all modern Christianity it is more prac- 
tical, and has more to say about the true manner of 
apprehending and accepting salvation on the part of 
man, than the older testimonies. Much is said about 
conversion and about the true Christian life. But the 
author is far from relying on man's natural strength 
for it; much stress is laid on Christ's love and its 
power, on the efficacy of His death, and on faith. 



40 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



From a copy before the author, printed in 1742 by 
Benjamin Franklin, in Philadelphia, the following 
questions are translated as samples of its eminently 
practical character: 

167. Wherein does conversion really consist? 
In turning from Satan's power to that of God. 

168. Who is Satan? 

An angel who did not keep his first estate, but left 
his own habitation. Jud. 6. 

169. What is he doing? 

He walks about, as a roaring lion, seeking whom he 
might devour. I. Pet. v : 8. 

170. Whom does he get? 

He deceiveth the whole world. Rev. xii :g. 

171. What has he to do with the world? 
He is the God of this world. II. Cor. iv: 4. 

172. What else is he? 
Its father. John viii '.44. 

173. Who are his subjects? 

He worketh in the children of disobedience. 

174. But would people leave him? 

If once their eyes were opened. Acts xxvi:i8. 

175. But how may one get away from him? 
Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. 

Acts xvi:3. 

176. But if one cannot believe? 

God offers faith to every one. Acts xvii:3i. 

177. But what is faith? 

Calling on him whom we do not see as if we saw 
him. Heb. xi 127. 



The Moravians. 



41 



178. How far must that go? 

Even as if you saw the prints of his nails, and laid 
your fingers into the prints of his nails, and thrust your 
hand into his side. 

For some time it seemed as if the new organization 
would split and disintegrate the Reformed congrega- 
tions in Pennsylvania. By ordaining Rauch, Antes, 
Brandmueller, and Lischy, the conference could count 
six Reformed pastors, men of undoubted piety and 
power. In one of their meetings three Indians, Mo- 
hawks from New York converted through Rauch's 
labors, were baptized. There were other very solemn 
and impressive scenes in other conferences. But a re- 
action set in. First the Seventh-day Baptists with- 
drew. Then the Reformed became disaffected because 
Moravian customs were pressed upon them, after large 
numbers of Moravians had came over as a compact 
colony. Lischy took offence at the introduction of 
whit e ves tments^ and long litanies. In Lancaster the 
Reformed congregation would not sustain Pastor 
Rieger in his efforts to befriend the Moravians, and so 
he had to resign. The many quaint forms and customs 
bred in Zinzendorfs fertile mind and introduced by 
him for new festivals seemed contrary to the scriptural 
simplicity of worship. In the Moravian hymns is found 
more sentimental play on the emotional side of Christ's 
passion than sober instruction and food for the intel- 
lect. However attractive at first, these pleasantries in 
course of time became insipid_and distasteful. Zinzen- 
dorf himself left America soon after the seventh con- 



42 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



ference meeting, and the absence of his powerful per- 
sonality was felt to such an extent that no further con- 
ferences were held. 

Samuel Guldin, high in years, but of considerable 
influence among the people, raised his voice of protest. 
At first his longing for fellowship and increased life 
had impelled him to make common cause with Zinzen- 
dorf, and he attended the first of the conferences at 
Germantown, but he left the conference at the end of 
the first day. He seems to have missed the divine ele- 
ment in that effort at unification. In his judgment, the 
advocates of the movement displayed too much human 
zeal. In 1742 and 1743 he wrote a book to that effect 
and had it published in 1743, entitled, "Unpartisan 
Witness on the New Union of all Denominations in 
Pennsylvania, and also on Some Other Points.'' 

But the most active and efficient defender of the Re- 
formed church, to whom, next to God, its preservation 
in those dangerous times seems mainly due, was a man 
who deserves more than a passing mention, 

JOHN PHIL. BOEHM. 

Of the workers in Christ's church some are like 
high-pressure engines, and others like low-pressure 
ones; some are subjectively filled. with strong personal 
convictions to be impressed upon their fellowmen, and 
others are objective representatives of their fellow- 
men's minds to be fostered in wisdom and modera- 
tion; some work in fitful flashes, and others in steady 
strength. Boehm was of the latter class, one of the 



The Moravians. 



43 



cleanest-cut representatives of the Pennsylvanian type, 
very mild, but very firm. He abounded more in com- 
mon sense than in imagination, for which reason he, 
probably, was less efficient in the pulpit than in pas- 
toral work. 

He lacked a university education, nor was there any- 
thing brilliant or catching about him, nor does he seem 
to have been aggressive in his labors. He rather ex- 
celled in persistence and insistence. His daily walk 
was without blemish, and his character altogether with- 
out reproach. If he did not arouse men to new thought, 
he could put together and keep together existing life- 
forces. 

His personal experience of the inner life seems to 
have been like the even flow of a river without sharp 
turns or rapids and cataracts. He inherited from pious 
parents the habits of life and thought that reflect 
Christ's life, and from the hour of his baptism on he 
quietly grew into the consciousness of his salvation, not 
without those severe struggles, of course, and agonies 
even, without which it is impossible to overcome sin 
and self, but without experiencing those violent throes 
and travails to which they are subject who from out- 
spoken enmity to the Lord pass over into devoted con- 
secration to His service — a John the Evangelist rather 
than a St. Paul. 

His father was a Reformed minister in Hessia, but 
he himself had to content himself with the humbler 
calling of a schoolmaster. From 1708 to 1715 he taught 
the Reformed School of Worms in the Palatinate. The 



44 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



schoolmasters of those times were to a large extent 
assistants of their pastors, and had to perform many 
clerical functions. In the Sunday service, besides lead- 
ing in the singing, they read the scripture lesson. They 
assisted in the administration of the Lord's Supper and 
of baptism, also at funerals and marriages. In school 
they taught scripture and catechism. In case of the 
pastor's absence they conducted the Sunday service and 
read a sermon. When in America the newcomers found 
themselves without pastors, they would naturally look 
to the schoolmasters for the conducting of public ser- 
vice, they being the pastor's legitimate substitutes. In 
the early records of Reformed churches here the names 
of many such are met with. There was Conrad Tern- 
pelmann, who began to preach in 1725, in his own 
house at Lebanon, and served as many as six congrega- 
tions at a time, greatly beloved. Geo. Slither served the 
first congregations in North Carolina and deserves to 
be called the father of the Reformed church in that 
state. Friedr. Casp. Mueller, from 1774 to 1763, served 
a number of congregations in Eastern Pennsylvania. 
John Weymer, Otterbein's co-worker, was a school- 
master, and so was Peter Miller — not identical with 
John Peter Mueller — who officiated in several East 
Pennsylvania congregations. 

Boehm came to America in 1720, not from choice 
nor from temporal motives, but because his position 
had been made untenable by the intrigues and petty 
persecutions of Jesuits, to which the Reformed were ex- 
posed, since, in 1685, a Catholic side-line had inherited 



Hochstadt near Hanau. The church in which Boehm was baptized 
is in the center of the picture. 




The Moravians. 



45 



the Palatinate, the direct line of Frederic III. of the 
Heidelberg catechism, having become extinct. The 
Catholics took from the Reformed in Heidelberg the 
cathedral church of the Holy Ghost, and all over the 
country the use of the Heidelberg catechism was for- 
bidden because in question 80 the mass is denounced 
as a damnable idolatry. To every town and village 
Jesuits were sent to find pretexts for legal persecution 
and to pick quarrels with the pastors, sure in every 
case to end in dispossessing the Reformed of their 
churches and guaranteed rights. 

In those times of religious oppression, from which 
the Lutherans and the Mennonites had to suffer no 
less than the Reformed, highly colored descriptions of 
the fertile lands in Pennsylvania were circulated in the 
Rhine regions by the agents of Wm. Penn, in a small 
'book called The Golden Book. Fine farms were to be 
had for the asking, with full freedom of worship, and 
civil liberty and equality. A great exodus of emigra- 
tion set in, and Boehm joined it. 

He found the country north of Philadelphia, the 
Schuylkill valley, where he settled, thickly inhabited by 
his countrymen and coreligionists, but destitute of pas- 
tors, and when they urged him to care for their relig- 
ious needs, he readily acceded to their request. 

At first he officiated in the capacity of a lector only, 

i. e., he read sermons and conducted the service. But 

there was a large number of unbaptized children, and 

no communion had been held for many years. In this 

destitution the people felt that the exigencies of life in 
4 



46 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



a new world would warrant a disregard of forms and 
restrictions meant for their old and well established 
home church, the more so since this was a free coun- 
try. The Falkner's Swamp congregation was the first 
to call upon Boehm to become their pastor, and Henry 
Antes, the elder, the same who afterward joined Zin- 
zendorf, with many tears entreated Boehm to accept a 
call so evidently providential. He yielded, and on 
Oct. 25, 1725, administered the communion to forty 
members. In the next month he served it to thirty- 
seven at Schippach, and in the succeeding month to 
twenty-four at White Marsh. 

Although by these acts Boehm clearly violated the 
laws of his church, it was not his mind to let license 
run wild. He wanted law and order, and submitted to 
these three congregations a complete constitution writ- 
ten out by himself, but based on the rules of the home- 
church. It was Presbyterian in government, with a 
consistory, and ruling elders of equal executive au- 
thority with the pastor. It was Reformed in dis- 
cipline after the old type, imposing penalties on 
those that led a life unbecoming a Christian. It was 
Calvinistic in doctrine, accepting the creeds of the Re- 
formed church in Holland at that time the leading 
power. Special mention was made of the canons of 
Dort, still less was the Heidelberg catechism over- 
looked. 

Nor was Boehm satisfied with introducing this con- 
stitution in his own immediate vicinity. Two years 
later he introduced it in Conestoga and Tulpehocken 



The Moravians. 



47 



when he Iheld communion service there. Seven years 
later he had it adopted by the Philadelphia congrega- 
tion, and two years later in Oley. In some places, 
however, he met with stubborn opposition. German- 
town and Goshenhoppen rejected it. 

In Lebanon, Tempelman, a tailor by trade, had be- 
gun preaching at the same time that Boehm began in 
Falkner's Swamp. Boehm went to him, administered 
communion, introduced his constitution, and appointed 
Tempelmann his schoolmaster and reader, — rather a 
strange assumption of authority for one who had him- 
self not been ordained to the ministry ! But he seems 
to have been a man of more than average ability, who, 
having his own strong convictions on the necessity of a 
written constitution, was able to impress others with 
the same. After a while, however, Tempelmann was 
urged by his own people, who esteemed him highly for 
his earnest preaching, to act as their pastor and to ad- 
minister the sacraments. If the Falkner-Swamp peo- 
ple could raise their schoolmaster to clerical dignity, 
why should the Lebanon church be forbidden to do 
the same ? Moreover, the distance from Boehm's place 
of residence to Lebanon was embarrassingly great. 
Tempelmann consented, and, like Boehm, added a 
number of other congregations to his charge. Tempel- 
mann died in 1761, the highly beloved pastor of an 
extensive field. 

But the lack of a valid ordination came to be felt 
very painfully when, in 1727, a regular minister from 
the Palatinate made his appearance in Philadelphia, 



48 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



S. M. Weiss by name, who had enjoyed school advan- 
tages far superior to those of Boehm. He had com- 
pleted his theological studies in Heidelberg, had made 
the examinations prescribed by law, and had been or- 
dained by proper authority to accompany a society of 
400 emigrants from the Palatinate, that left in 1727. 
Upon his arrival in Philadelphia he was at once called 
by the Reformed congregation there to become their 
pastor. 

When he found the congregations in and around 
Philadelphia served by unordained men, he felt greatly 
shocked, and that feeling was intensified by persons 
inimical to their pastors, such as will be found wher- 
ever faithful servants of Christ are preaching the 
whole truth, not forgetting to reprove iniquity. 

In Schippach he fell in with an elder, George Reiff 
by name, who had been disciplined by Boehm and who, 
in retaliation, had formed a counter-congregation. He 
easily succeeded in enlisting in his enterprise young 
Weiss, unsuspicious, inexperienced, impulsive, and ag- 
gressive as he was. Besides, he had quite insinuating 
ways about him, as was shown later on when he acted 
as a church collector in Holland. Unscrupulous 
enough to retain for his private use the money col- 
lected, he had a ready flow of tears and an imposing 
show of outraged innocency at his command, when 
called to account and confronted with documentary 
proof of his dishonesty. He even could forge official 
letters when that would serve his purposes. In conse- 
quence, Boehm found himself severely denounced 



The Moravians. 



49 



by Weiss here and in his other congregations, as one 
that had no right to perform clerical acts. So far was 
Weiss carried away by his zeal that with assumed 
authority he issued a formal summons to Boehm, to 
be tried by himself, Weiss, for officiating "without 
permission of the clergy, taking for a pretext that this 
is a free country/' The summons ended with these 
words : 

"Now, therefore, by the authority of the Most Rev- 
erend Ministry, and according to the power accorded 
to a regular minister of Christ, the gentleman is hereby 
summoned and requested to appear in Philadelphia be- 
fore the Presbyterium* of the church at the house of 
the minister in order to be examined by one or another 
of those present. " 

All this may sound somewhat pompous and hollow 
to our ears, for the Philadelphia congregation, just re- 
organized by Weiss, had no jurisdiction whatever over 
Boehm. But Weiss was puffed up by a strong sense 
of his superior learnedness. In the "Philadelphia 
Mercury" he offered his services as a teacher in logic, 
natural philosophy, metaphysics, et a., and knowledge 
puffeth up, but love edifieth, I. Cor iii: I. 

That the church was not edified by his course was 
demonstrated when a tumultuous crowd in February 
1728, met before Reiff's house in Schippach, where the 
Sunday services had been conducted so far by Boehm, 
but where he now was forbidden entrance. And when, 



*In Germany the consistory of a congregation is called Pres- 
byterium. 



50 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



in the following year, the new church-building was 
dedicated, and Reiff claimed it as his own property be- 
cause built on his own land, Boehm and his adherents 
were ousted for good. 

In Whitemarsh similar tumults were raised, though 
here Boehm's friends prevailed. 

But God is good and wise, and sincere followers of 
Christ receive grace enough to see their errors and to 
make due amends. On November 23, of the next year, 
1729, an impressive and solemn event occurred in New 
York. In the Reformed (Dutch) church there, 
Boehm, with three of his elders, before a large congre- 
gation, and Weiss and two worthy dominies, Revs. Boel 
and Dubois, after appropriate addresses, ordained and 
set apart for the holy ministry with laying on of their 
hands, by order and authority of the classis of Am- 
sterdam, John Philipp Boehm, of Pennsylvania. Then 
Weiss stood up and publicly expressed his regrets for 
what he had done, and his willingness to make full sat- 
isfaction, and to abstain from all further interference 
in Boehm's pastoral work at Schippach, Falkner's 
Swamp, and Whitemarsh. Boehm then agreed to leave 
Weiss in diarge of Philadelphia and Germantown. 

This happy result had been brought about by 
Boehm's request for ordination sent to the church in 
Holland, which, after considerable correspondence and 
tedious waiting, had been granted, to be carried out by 
the New York pastors who then were members of the 
Amsterdam classis. 

Thus Boehm came to be a member of the classis of 



The Moravians. 



51 



Amsterdam, which now had to exercise supervision 
over his pastoral work and to protect him in times of 
need and danger. True to his duty, as soon as the 
classis learned of Zinzendorf s proposed trip to Amer- 
ica, they put him on his guard and sent him a book pub- 
lished by one of their pastors against the Moravians. 
It bore quite a formidable title: 

"The naked exposed Enthusiasm, Fanaticism and 
corrupt Mysticism of the socalled Moravians, exhibited 
most clearly from their German hymnbooks and other 
writings and their agreement with the corrupt Mystics 
and Fanatics in Germany, and the Tremblers (Quak- 
ers) in England, most plainly indicated, tending to 
repeated faithful warning against those people, and to 
the complete defense of the Pastoral and Paternal Let- 
ter of the Reverend Amsterdam Consistory against the 
false accusations of a certain anonymous writing added 
back of this. Published at the earnest request and by 
the order of the Reverend Consistory and from the love 
of truth which is unto salvation, by Gerardus Kulen- 
kamp, preacher at Amsterdam. At Amsterdam, 1739." 

A warning coming by authority of his classis could 
not fail to impress Boehm strongly. When Zinzendorf 
arrived in Philadelphia it was Boehm's Sunday to 
preach in the joint Lutheran and Reformed church 
there,* on Christmas Sunday, and he took occasion 
earnestly to warn his people against him. On the next 



*Weiss had left years ago. 



52 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



Sunday Zinzendorf was to preach for the Lutherans, 
and Boehm, instead of going home to his country place, 
made it his business to stay in Philadelphia, the rather 
since some of the Lutherans requested him to help them 
keep out Zinzendorf. 

On the Sunday appointed, when he approached the 
church, he found a large concourse before the door, 
earnestly discussing the expected visit, some being for, 
and some against Zinzendorfs preaching there. 
Boehm kept his peace until some of the Lutherans 
asked for his opinion. 

He answered, I think I have more information 
about these things than many of you, and therefore I 
must protest against any one asserting that either the 
Reformed or I consent to Count Zinzendorfs preach- 
ing in this church. Of course, we Reformed have no 
right to interfere with your disposal of your Sunday. 
If you do anything to your own injury, we wash our 
hands of the consequences. 

Zinzendorf did not put in his appearance at that time, 
but a few days later sent a letter to Boehm's house at 
Witpen, by special messenger, in which he informed 
Boehm that the Lutherans had asked him, Zinzendorf, 
to preach. Being a Lutheran myself, he wrote, and 
having preached in many a Lutheran church before 
this,* in Germany, I feel like acceding to the request. 
But I do not believe in the doctrine of reprobration** 

*Zinzendorf had in Germany taken regular orders as a Luth- 
eran minister with that very object in view. 

**Teaching that God elected some persons to be lost forever, 
a doctrine falsely ascribed to the Reformed. 



The Moravians. 



53 



like you. On this account I would ask you if you have 
any authority to forbid me. In that case I should pre- 
fer not to preach in the church. 

Boehm wrote back on the same day, that as to his 
right to interfere, he could not answer so quickly, but 
he would stand by what he had said on the previous 
Sunday to the Lutherans in Philadelphia. 

Zinzendorf did, on the following Sunday, preach for 
the Lutherans, and he even succeeded in having himself 
elected their regular pastor. Boehm, however, gave 
him the cold shoulder. Subsequently, when Zinzendorf 
asked him to yield him his Sunday for communion-ser- 
vice, he curtly refused. And the Lutherans continued 
their arrangement a few months only. In June they 
forcibly ejected Zinzendorf. 

In August, Boehm took a step still more decisive. He 
published his "True Letter of Warning addressed to 
the Reformed in Pennsylvania" containing extensive 
quotations from Kulenkamp's book, together with 
severe criticisms of Bechtel's catechism. He also takes 
exception to the irregular proceedings of the confer- 
ences. 

The Moravians, in answer, published a defense. 
Then Boehm issued a second warning. Guldin, as 
stated previously, also gave into print his warnings on 
The True and the False Union. 

These earnest efforts had their effect on the ranks 
of those who had entered into the union movement, wa- 
vering already from other causes. One congregation 
after the other dismissed their Pro-Moravian pastors. 



54 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



Even Bechtel's church in Germantown, in 1744, took 
that step and then called Boehm as their pastor. Revs. 
Rieger and Lischy returned to the Reformed fold. 
"The Congregation of God in the Spirit" ceased to 
exist. 

Thus the story of the Galatians of old was repeated, 
who "began in the spirit and expected to be perfected 
in the flesh," Gal. iii : 3, who would by human agencies 
do the Spirit's work. Evidently these men were gen- 
uine Christians and worked for a highly commendable 
end, viz. : a union of denominations. To this day their 
multiplicity is loudly calling for a remedy, and all earn- 
est Christians are longing for the time when there will 
be but one Shepherd and but one visible fold. But the 
time has not come yet. Still less had it come then. The 
one wing of that movement, over-spiritual, so to speak, 
relying exclusively on direct revelations of the Holy 
Ghost, without taking the trouble involved in careful 
study of Scripture and patient performance of duty, 
could not blend with the other wing, overformal, timid- 
ly clinging to forms and traditions of human origin 
never meant for permanency nor for eternity. The free 
Jerusalem which is above, Gal. iv : 26, was not to be un- 
veiled then, nor has she been unveiled to this day. The 
Spirit and the bride still cry, Come ! 



III. THE DEPUTIES AND SCHLATTER. 



Whilst Boehm was struggling manfully to preserve 
the Reformed church in Pennsylvania, the mother 
church in the Netherlands was preparing to help in 
other ways. Her sympathy had frequently been 
aroused by the sufferings of German Reformed people 
on their way to America, as well as by the religious 
destitution of those already in America. 

The first impetus in this direction was given w 1 hen in 
1 7Q9 the Rhine was white with vessels bearing Palati- 
nate refugees fleeing from Louis XIV/s cruel generals. 
Of those fifteen thousand, one-half were Reformed, not 
destitute, it is true, of religious supplies, for they had 
been very careful to bring along their Bibles, their 
prayerbooks, and their catechisms, but they were so 
destitute of bodily food that during their stay in the 
seaports of Holland strenuous efforts on a very large 
scale had to be made for their relief. 

Soon after this, from the Reformed authorities in the 
Palatinate, letters and appeals for assistance in provid- 
ing pastors for the settlements in Pennsylvania began 
to reach Holland. 

Then came Boehm's request for ordination, which 
led to his and Weiss' becoming regular members of the 
■classis of Amsterdam in 1729. 

In the next year the Reformed congregation of Phil- 

55 



56 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



adelphia, then engaged in the erection of a church 
building, resolved to send their pastor, Weiss, together 
with Elder Reiff, of Schippach, on a collecting tour to 
the Dutch brethren. In those times Holland was well 
known everywhere as the richest country of all the 
world. The two collectors arrived in due time, and 
were well received, for the Reformed church of Hol- 
land had a warm heart for suffering saints, in spite of 
their much abhorred Calvinism and their canons of 
Dort. Intelligent and pious Zinzendorf accused them 
of believing in reprobation, and to our times they are by 
many pious souls looked upon as sold to the idols of 
stern and cruel dogmatism. But often men are without 
cause afraid of things without reality. 

The Hollanders w T ere Calvinisms, but that doctrine 
had by no means stood in the way of God's Spirit mak- 
ing His abode with them. Great revivals under Un- 
tereyk, Lodenstein, Labadie, e. a., had swept over the 
whole land. Then Coccejus had crystalized the new 
life, and taught his system of covenant-theology mak- 
ing God's covenant with His people the fundamen- 
tal truth of Christian religion. According to this con- 
ception of theology, man is by no means consigned to 
passive inactivity toward God, but is put in his proper 
attitude of assuming duties and making pledges and 
promises to God, even as God pledges himself to man. 

Finally Lampe had clinched the nail with his Practi- 
cal System of Theology, which makes the salvation of 
souls the main and never-to-be-lost-sight-of object of 
all Scripture study. 



The Deputies and Schlatter. 



57 



By professors of these theological schools the pas- 
tors then in office had received their training, and by 
them many hearts had been awakened to the new life, 
the life of love. In consequence, the collectors from 
Pennsylvania found so many open hands that over 
2,000 florins were contributed. 

But this was not all. It was felt that the time had 
come to provide for permanent relief. Arrangements 
must be made to send pastors to Pennsylvania and an- 
nual remittances of money, to aid the congregations 
there. The matter was laid before the regular judica- 
tories of the church, the synods and the classes, and 
after due consideration a standing committee was ap- 
pointed of commissioners, or deputies, as they called 
them, — a board of missions we should call it now, — who 
should obtain and collect information, should examine 
into the merits of all appeals, and should plan collec- 
tions. All letters and all moneys were to pass through 
their hands. 

The deputies found their task not easy to accomplish. 
As honey attracts flies so money attracts men like Judas 
or serves to develop the Judas-nature of which no man 
is absolutely free. Weiss and Reiff were no angels. 
Weiss, it is true, passed through the ordeal of a collect- 
ing tour without reproach. But he was the one of the 
two least exposed to temptation, since ReifT had been 
appointed to receive all the money collected and to keep 
the accounts, probably on the ground that elders are 
better treasurers than pastors, and that pastors should 
not be burdened with the management of finances. 



58 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



Scripture, however, does not seem to support that opin- 
ion, for St. Paul proved an untiring and successful col- 
lector for the saints in Jerusalem, disinterested to a 
fault, without having his spiritual activity impaired by 
the temporal. 

However that may be, in the case of Weiss and Reiff 
the elder proved the weaker man, for on their return 
home he kept the money and resisted all attempts made 
by his constituents in Philadelphia to obtain a settle- 
ment. 

Now Satan had good reason to rejoice. He might 
hope to have put an end to the pious work of the depu- 
ties. Of course, they would now in disgust abandon 
their work of love, and in consequence, thousands of 
shepherdless sheep in Pennsylvania would fall his 
prey. But if such was his calculation, he had not taken 
into account some essential factors in the Lord's affairs. 
Christ does not rely on the strength of man, but on the 
power of His own redeeming Love, and the deputies, 
strict Calvinists that they were, had a clear conception 
of sovereign grace able to save man though totally de- 
praved. Their faith was not of the emotional cast, eas- 
ily swayed by feelings of disgust and disappointment. 
They believed and practiced the perseverance of saints. 
Besides, if the Germans are said to be slow but sure, the 
Dutch are slower still and surer still. They did not 
grow weary in well doing, but they, very wisely, con- 
cluded to act with more caution and now began to cast 
about for more information concerning things in Penn- 



The Deputies and Schlatter. 



59 



sylvania, information that would enable them to carry 
on with better success the work assigned to them. 

Nor was their firm determination shaken when new 
discouragements came, and when a number of ministers 
well recommended to them by high church officials in 
Germany for missionary work in Pennsylvania proved 
entirely unworthy of their confidence. 

Their search for more information for some time 
'seemed almost hopeless. They wrote to Weiss and 
Reiff , but could elicit no answer from either. Then 
they addressed their letters to Boehm, but years passed 
by and no answer came. In those times the mail ser- 
vice was in its infancy ; the ocean was crossed in sail- 
ing vessels consuming months for one trip, and even if 
Boehm and Weiss wished to send information, not to 
speak of Reiff, reliable information was not easily ob- 
tained. When these men failed them, they wrote to 
whomsoever they could think of, but year after year 
elapsed without a single response. 

And still they persevered, these noble men, noble not 
by virtue of birth or brilliant deed, but ennobled by un- 
wavering faith in Christ, their Master, by whom they 
stood commissioned. Full fifteen years they persevered, 
hoping against hope, and at last their faith received its 
reward. All things come to him who can wait, if he 
waits upon the Lord. And this is one of the best tests 
of genuine faith, that it waits, not inactive, refraining 
only from activity not indicated by God himself opening 
the door and the way for it. 

In 1745 full reports came carefully collected by 



60 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



Boehm, and no sooner had they been received and read 
and been found reliable, than the deputies set to work. 
They had the reports put into print together with their 
own appeals for men and means, which in the name and 
by authority of their church were distributed all along 
the Rhine. One copy of them fell into the hands of a 
young minister of Switzerland, who took it to heart, 

MICHAEL SCHLATTER. 

Michael Schlatter was born July 14, 1716. His par- 
ents were able to give him a college education and a 
university training for the ministry, but he was not the 
best of students. By his lively disposition he was fre- 
quently carried away into indiscreet and even immoral 
acts. Caring more for adventure and excitement than 
for tame life at home, he several times changed his 
place of study and some times would abandon his stud- 
ies altogether, to take up other pursuits. He spent some 
time at Helmstadt, in Northern Germany, and quite a 
number of years in Holland, at that time the golden 
goal of all fortune-seekers. But better councils again 
prevailed and he was enabled to complete his studies. 
Finally, when thirty years old, he was put in charge of 
a small suburban church in his native city, with a salary 
of no more than twenty dollars a year in our money. 
But his troubles were not over. Again he was betrayed 
by his passionate temper into serious indiscretions and 
had to leave his home abruptly, in disgrace.* 

*The details are recorded in a manuscript chronicle of the 



The Deputies and Schlatter. 



61 



Going to Heidelberg, where he had on former jour- 
neys become acquainted with men high in position, who 
received him kindly, he there saw the appeal sent out 
by the deputies, and perceiving his opportunity he at 
once went to Holland. By his connections in Heidel- 
berg he had been given the best of credentials and rec- 
ommendations. In those times things of this sort were 
not done with the scrupulous care made possible in our 
times of railroad, telegraph, and telephone, and be- 
sides, America was looked upon as the country where 
persons of a good education, who had lost standing at 



St. Gall clergy, preserved in the archives of that city. He was 
seduced by an abandoned woman living separated from her 
husband. The same archives contain three letters by the 
woman's father, Dean Bleyl. 

The story of Schlatter's fall might have been passed over 
in silence here, as it has been suppressed in all books so far 
published on Schlatter and his times. Love is to cover the 
multitude of sins. But that course would have left unex- 
plained so many occurrences in the subsequent history of the 
church and would so have misled the reader into misconcep- 
tions of important events and persons, that this narrative would 
have become fiction rather than history. 

The Bible does not hide nor ignore the sins of saints. Da- 
vid's fall and Peter's denial and many discreditable acts of 
the Patriarchs are recorded without a word in extenuation, 
so that the readers may learn the lesson of sinners saved by 
grace, from deep degradation to glorious exaltation. But 
the Bible does not stop with the account of the saints' fall. 
By faith the fallen souls rise to a full and complete abandon- 
ment of that special sin. Peter never again denied Christ 
after he had been pardoned. And as for Schlatter, he never 
afterward fell into the same sin, but lived chaste to the end 
of his life. Had it been otherwise, his enemies would have 
made it known. And he had many of them, bitter and re- 
lentless. 

n 



62 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



home, might rehabilitate themselves, and such were, 
to this end, readily given clean papers. 

The deputies read Schlatter's papers, conversed 
freely with him, submitted him to a rigorous examina- 
tion, and came to the conclusion that he was the very 
man they needed to organize the Pennsylvania church. 
Five months after leaving St. Gall, on May 29, he set 
sail for America. 

By his commission he was invested with the authority 
of a Visitor Extraordinary, an office not new in the 
Xetherland church. It does not mean inspector. An 
inspector may act, may punish, may order work on his 
own judgment, but the power conferred bv the deputies 
is the one defined in Sec. 44 of the church constitution 
of Dort, the fundamental law of the land : 

"Zal 00k de classis eenige von haaren Dienaaren, ter 
minsten twe, van de oudste, ervarenste en geschickteste 
authoriseeren, om in alle Kerken van de Staden so wel as 
van het platte Land, alle jaar visitatie te doen en toe to 
sien, of de Leeraars, Kerkenraden en schoolmasters haar 
.ampt getrouwelijk. warnemen . ' ' 

The classis shall also authorize some of its ministers, 
two at the least, from the oldest, most experienced, and 
most suitable, to hold visitation each year in the cities as 
well as in the open country, and to ascertain whether the 
ministers, the consistories, and the schoolmasters faithfully 
perform the duties incumbent upon them. 

These visitors were to report to classis, and classis 
was to take action if necessary. So Schlatter was to 
make report, not to act. Schlatter, however, was 
authorized to do some things which could not be left to 
a classis so far away; he was to organize the Reformed 



The Deputies and Schlatter. 



63 



pastors and elders into a coetus, a conference subject to 
classis, not empowered to ordain or to discipline minis- 
ters or to pass on church ordinances. The Dutch 
churches in New York province, about ten or twelve in 
number, were just then in the same manner constituted 
a coetus, or "conference," as an integral part of the 
Amsterdam classis. 

On Sept. 6, 1746, after a two months' sail to Boston, 
then the largest city in North America, Schlatter ar- 
rived in Philadelphia, at that time a city of about 10,000 
inhabitants living in 2,300 houses mostly built of stone, 
with seven churches and two Quaker meeting-houses. 

It would have been right for Schlatter, after so ted- 
ious a journey, to take a rest here, but such was not his 
way of doing things. One day only he remained, long 
enough to arrange for permanent lodgings with one of 
the Reformed elders there. Perhaps he was burning 
to make amends for his grievous fall and to show his 
gratitude for the Lord's merciful dealings with him. 
The day after his arrival, he went to Boehm in Witpen, 
who gave him a warm welcome. Imagine how glad 
this aged servant of the Lord w T as, who had for many 
years been defending his church against her adversar- 
ies, who had found it so hard to preserve and to foster 
the spirit of brotherly love between the few ministers 
then laboring in the field, and who knew of the great 
spiritual destitution of the congregations then about 
fifty in number. Imagine what must have been his joy 
when in the solitude of his rural home there appeared 
before him, altogether unexpectedly, an ambassador of 



64 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



the strong- and liberal mother church in the Netherlands 
with a message of love and a promise of assistance. 

The interview of these two men must have brought 
extraordinary gladness to their hearts, and their united 
prayers of thanksgiving would certainly prove a sweet 
savor to God as well as a refreshing dew to their own 
souls. But Schlatter gave himself no rest. The very 
next day he set out again and went eight miles further 
to see Reiff, to prepare the way for a settlement of his 
now sixteen year old accounts as collector in Holland. 
Returning next day to Philadelphia he investigated the 
whereabouts of 130 German bibles sent from Holland 
four years ago, and found them in good order for distri- 
bution. Then he turned his attention to the congrega- 
tion in Philadelphia and prepared its members for a 
solemn communion-service held in common with 
Boehm, in which one hundred communicants took part, 
men and women who never had seen in this new world 
two ministers together in one church distributing the 
sacred seals of God's promise in Christ. 

Immediately after this, the two visited the congrega- 
tion in Germantown, the same that under Bechtel had 
gone over to the Moravian conference, but had dis- 
missed Bechtel in 1744, and had elected Boehm their 
pastor. This congregation was now thoroughly reor- 
ganized, and was, together with Philadelphia, consti- 
tuted a charge to be served by Schlatter. 

On next Friday we find him in Bucks county with a 
Reformed pastor named Dor sins y who in former years 
had been in correspondence with the deputies, and had 




The Linsebuel Church a. St. Gall, Schlatter's first charge. 
64 



The Deputies and Schlatter. 



65 



even been over to Holland in 1743, but who had acted 
in a very independent way. Here he was received 
kindly, but was not permitted to confer with the consis- 
tory in his official capacity. 

On the same Friday he made the thirty-five miles 
back to Philadelphia, on horseback of course, and on the 
ensuing Sunday preached there and obtained a formal 
call as their pastor, sixty members subscribing about 
sixty-six dollars toward his support. Boehm, who now 
was sixty-three years old, acquiesced, for the time be- 
ing at least. 

On the Monday following he again traveled thirty- 
five miles to Old Goshenhoppen, where Pastor Weiss 
preached, who had been to Holland with Elder Reiff, 
and whom he prevailed upon to accompany him for a 
second interview with Reiff. They had a difficult task 
before them. That dishonest man had many profuse 
tears to shed over his own imaginary grievances, and 
many extravagant charges to make for his expenses and 
personal labors. He would in no wise disburse. But 
Schlatter would not yield. A final settlement was 
reached subsequently, many months later, and Reiff 
gave up a little less than one-half of his collections. 

From here Schlatter went to Oley, to where Weiss 
had preceded him, and together they journeyed to 
Tulpehocken, one of the oldest Reformed congregations 
in Pennsylvania. Here they met Boehm by previous 
appointment, who had prepared the congregation for 
the Lord's Supper. The celebration of the holy sacra- 
ment was more impressive yet than that in Philadel- 



66 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church.. 



phia. Many people were moved to tears by the un- 
wonted sight of as many as three ministers at a time 
together serving at the Lord's table. The bread of life 
was broken to several hundreds of communicants. 
Such an abundance seemed almost miraculous in those 
time's of pioneer life and spiritual famine. 

Having more fully organized this old congregation, 
on the next day Schlatter went to Lancaster, then a 
city of about 500 houses. Here Rieger had not been al- 
lowed to preach since the days of the Moravians, and 
Schlatter was in hopes that now a reconciliation be- 
tween the pastor and the congregation might be ef- 
fected, for Rieger continued to reside in Lancaster 
and was serving some small country congregation. 
Schlatter's hopes, however, were not realized. Still the 
visit proved by no means barren of results, for Rieger 
now saw into the desirability of good order in church, 
and consented to help Schlatter organize a coetus. He 
accompanied him back to Philadelphia, a distance of 
sixty miles, where on the 12th of October, 1746, by pre- 
vious appointment, Boehm and Weiss met with them. 

This was the first time these three pioneer pastors 
ever met together, although they had been laboring in 
the same district for nearly twenty years. Boehm had 
been with Weiss, and Weiss had been with Rieger, and 
Rieger had been with Boehm, but the three had never 
been together at once, and frequently they had been 
separated by jealousy and misunderstanding. Now 
Schlatter, after five weeks of travel and hardship, saw 
them reconciled, blessing the ties that bound them to- 



The Deputies and Schlatter. 



67 



gether, and feeling that their aims and joys and hopes 
were one and the same. And now they were able to 
devise the steps necessary for the organization of the 
intended coetus to be held next year. 

Well might Schlatter now take a little rest and be 
thankful, and well might he now sit down to write out 
his first report to the deputies. And still better reason 
had the deputies to rejoice and to praise God when they 
received his report. With tears of joy and gratitude 
they wrote back: 

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called 
the children of God. 



Before winter set in, Schlatter made another journey, 
revisiting those congregations that needed encourage- 
ment, and some others not reached previously, that had 
by letter asked him for ministerial service. The win- 
ter he spent in pastoral work together with Boehm. 

In the next year, 1747, during the months of April 
and May, he made what he himself called his grand 
journey, which extended as far as to what now is called 
Frederick City in Maryland, a distance of 130 miles. 
Traveling in those days, on horseback, by bridlepath, 
through primeval forest and rocky mountain, meant a 
great deal of hardship and privation. One day he rode 
15 miles without seeing a house or a human being, but 
the worst part of it was the crossing of rivers, which 
seldom could be accomplished without danger of life. 
Once Schlatter had to cross the Susquehanna then 
swollen with the spring rains, two miles wide. The 



63 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church- 



boat was manned by twelve oarsmen, and still they had 
hard work to stem the powerful current. When they 
neared the banks they could not land from their boat, 
but must mount horses. The slippery rocks and the 
half melted ice greatly troubled the horses, causing 
them frequently to lose their footing. But he was richly 
rewarded for his labors. He found an area of 7,000 
acres exclusively settled by Reformed people, thrifty 
farmers on the richest land, and at the same time ex- 
tremely anxious for the bread of life. They were then 
engaged in the erection of a church. Eighty-six mem- 
bers came to commune at the Lord's table, and about 
200 dollars in our present currency were subscribed for 
a pastor's salary. The schoolmaster of this congrega- 
tion was Mr. Schley, from whom Admiral Schley, of 
Santiago renown, descended. Dr. Ph. S chaff's wife 
also was a Schley. 

His next trip was to New York, where he secured 
about $250 for the church in Philadelphia. So far the 
congregation had worshiped in a dilapidated barn- 
like building, but now they were erecting a better edi- 
fice, though at present it would hardly be thought suit- 
able. It was in the form of a hexagon, and the roof 
had the form of a pyramid with a steeple on the apex. 
But it was not for this church mainly, that Schlatter 
went. His main object was to consult with the Dutch 
brethren there about the organization of coetus. He 
also by correspondence and circular agitated the mat- 
ter, and his efforts were crowned with success. On 
Sept. 29, 1747. four ministers, Schlatter, Boehm, Weiss 



The Deputies and Schlatter, 



69 



and Rieger, and twenty-eight elders met in Schlatter's 
house in Philadelphia. They organized by making 
Schlatter president and Boehm secretary, listened to 
Schlatter's reports, made reports to the deputies, and 
acted on requests from congregations, also on Rev. 
Lischy' s request to be received. He had been in the 
Moravian movement and had come to see his error 
some time ago. Goetus resolved to recommend him to 
the deputies for reinstatement. Tempelman also was 
recommended to them for ordination. 

Shortly after this meeting Schlatter married a 
daughter of a highly connected family in New York, 
with whom he lived happily for more than forty years. 
But he did not stay at home very long to enjoy his 
honeymoon. In October he made a journey to see 
about Lischy in York ; in November to minister to the 
needs of some congregations in New Jersey. In May, 
1748, he went on a journey still more extensive than 
the "grand journey" of 1747 to Maryland. After hav- 
ing revisited the Frederick people and other settlements 
in that colony, he crossed over into Virginia to Freder- 
icktown and to New Germantown, where he met with 
those pious people from Siegen, who, in 1714, under 
Pastor Haegener had organized the first German Re- 
formed congregation of North America, on the Rappa- 
hannock. 

Before going to Maryland and Virginia, he had in 
York made an appointment with Lischy, to be back by 
the 17th, and had also asked Rieger to be there at that 
time, in order that Lischy's case might be considered 



TO 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



more fully. It hardly seems credible that he should 
have been able to keep this appointment, for on the 
13th he was in the Virginia settlements and on the 15th 
in Frederick, Md., laboriously wending his way through 
almost trackless forests, crossing large rivers and 
rough mountains. But when the appointed day came, 
Schlatter was found in York, and so was Rieger. Their 
object was to reconcile the large congregation there 
with Lischy. In order to convince them of Lischy's 
having fully abandoned his Moravian errors, they 
asked him to preach a sermon on Matth. xxii : 14, 
"Many are called, but few chosen." Since the Morav- 
ians objected strongly to the Reformed views on pre- 
destination, by preaching on this text Lischy was to 
show on which side he stood. The sermon proved 
highly satisfactory to all, and henceforth Lischy was 
permitted again to preach. But he was not to admin- 
ister the sacraments until the deputies would be heard 
from. The Lord's Supper was administered afterward 
to 265 persons. Indeed, there was a large field white 
for the harvest. 

Schlatter's great joy over the rich blessings be- 
stowed by God on his labors so far was increased by 
another success. On Aug. 13. two new ministers ar- 
rived, sent over by the deputies, and on Sept. 15. a third 
one arrived. Their names were Bartholotnaeus, Hoch- 
reatiner, and Leidich. All three had received a univers- 
ity education, and came well recommended for their 
piety and their character. 

With them the second coetus, opened Sept. 28, al- 



The Deputies and Schlatter. 



71 



though Weiss was absent, counted six ministers pres- 
ent. There were also present seven elders. The open- 
ing sermon was preached by Rieger on Psalm 133, "Be- 
hold how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in 
unity/' a favorite Scripture of the Reformed people. 
To this day, whenever pastors would report what is 
best in their work, they report that peace and harmony 
are prevailing, and whenever meetings of classis or 
synod are to be praised, this is their story, and this is 
their song. The Reformed church is emphatically 
peaceful. Some may wish the church were made of 
sterner stuff. They may desire more courageous fight- 
ing and standing up for fundamental truths. We are 
the church militant they say, and glorious in their eyes 
is the time when the trumpet sounds and the war steed 
rears. But our making is of God, and He taught us to 
love peace above all things. Ps. 100: 3, "The Lord is 
God. It is He that has made us, and not we ourselves; 
we are His people and the sheep of His pasture." 

The proceedings consisted mainly in adopting a 
creed and a church constitution. The creed, as pro- 
posed by the deputies, was the Heidelberg catechism, 
and the canons of Dort. Rieger, however, was excused 
from subscribing, on account of his scruples on predes- 
tination. Boehm's constitution of 1725 was adopted 
with some additions. Coetus was careful to preserve 
the equality of ministers by giving the presidency in ro- 
tation to one after the other. The first coetus had been 
presided over by Schlatter, Boehm was president of 
the second, and Rieger was elected for the third. By a 



72 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



curious arrangement, a relic perhaps of the old-coun- 
try-ideas on promotion, the secretary elected for one 
year was by that act made president for the next. An- 
other such relic was the establishment of a tariff for 
clerical service, 90 cents for marriages and 60 cents for 
funerals. But the Reformed character of the church 
was preserved by having no fees for baptisms. 

Of the new ministers, Leidich was assigned to the 
Faulkner Swamp charge, Bartholomaeus to Tulpehock- 
en and Hochreutiner to Lancaster. But though man 
proposes, it is God who disposes. The new American 
church was early made to learn this lesson. When 
Hochreutiner had his horse standing ready for his 
journey to Lancaster, he tried to extract a bullet from 
his gun ; it went off, and he was killed instantly. His 
opening sermon, carefully written out, was found in 
his pocket. It was very appropriately based on I. Sam. 
iii: i-ii, "And the word of the Lord was precious 
(scarce) in those days, and there was no open vision 
(SSkttig 2Bei3fctgung)," etc. His theme and disposition 
was, The Call of Samuel; why Samuel was called; 
when he was called; what he was called to do. 

Why did the Lord do this? His dealings with the 
church are mysterious and past finding out, nor may 
shortsighted man presume to pry into the secrets of 
His plans. But the great poet of England truly says 
that coming events cast their shadows before them, and 
Scripture admonishes us to watch and pray, for we 
know not what hour the thief may come. And so, if God 
sends afflictions extraordinary, the wise will take the 



The Deputies and Schlatter. 



73 



warning, and remember how frail a creature is sinful 
man, and how foolish it would be in this world to look 
for uninterrupted success. If man were free from 
pride and presumption God would indeed always con- 
tinue to "'build the house of His people, to fill their 
quivers with children, and to give His beloved sleep." 
Ps. 127. But no man is free from pride and presump- 
tion, and so God gives His beloved trouble. 

In consequence, this is what happened. 

Schlatter had acted somewhat inconsiderately and 
highhandedly in his dealings with Boehm. One of his 
first steps taken in Philadelphia had been to have him- 
self elected pastor there and in Germantown, with 
Boehm's acquiescence to be sure, and yet it could not 
have been done without somewhat grieving him. No 
pastor likes to have his most important fields pass into 
other hands. Then, in Boehm's congregation of Falk- 
ner's Swamp, Schlatter baptized Elder Dr. Miller's wife 
and her eight children, without consulting Boehm. 
Then he had changed the consistory of the Philadel- 
phia congregation by a new election, without Boehm, 
had doubled the number of elders and deacons, and 
making all of them stand up in line, had ordained all, 
the old ones as well as the newly elected. Finally he 
had for Boehm's liturgy of the Palatinate substituted 
his own liturgy of St. Gall. 

For a time Boehm had submitted without protest, lest 
the establishment of the new church-organization 
should be imperiled. But after the second coetus, 
when the formation of a permanent authority seemed 



74 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



well secured, he felt free to address a long letter to the 
deputies, in which he suggested the propriety of in- 
vesting coetus with greater authority, and limiting that 
of Schlatter. Among other points he made was, that 
the deputies' official correspondence might now be di- 
rected to coetus, also the missionary moneys to be dis- 
tributed among the ministers. 

Soon after, Boehm died, April 29, 1749, and was 
gathered to his fathers. But that event did not put an 
end to these complications, for now Schlatter proposed 
to the church in Philadelphia to give him a formal call 
as sole pastor, and accompanied the proposition with 
some demands rather distasteful to the people. Had he 
known their sentiments toward him, he would probably 
have made no such demands, for they were by no means 
well pleased with his services. He was not a very im- 
pressive speaker nor did he possess the gift of win- 
ning ways. Even where he meant to confer favors, he 
often gave offense by the manner in which he con- 
ferred them. 

Schlatter wanted a call for life, "as long as he 
preached the pure Gospel and led a correct life.^ But 
the consistory rejected that form and proposed another ? 
which gave the consistory power to dismiss him in case 
he did not teach and walk correctly. Schlatter ap- 
pealed to the congregation, and himself took the vote in 
a rather singular form. "All that are on my side," he 
said, "put on their hats." But the number of hats put 
on was by no means overwhelmingly large, and the re- 
sult remained doubtful. 



The Deputies and Schlatter. 



75 



At this juncture new complications arose from a 
well meant act of the deputies, who sent a new minister, 
a Swiss, Steiner by name, that happened to be 
acquainted with Schlatter's antecedents. When he ar- 
rived during Schlatter's absence from Philadelphia, 
Schlatter's opponents at once laid hold of him, took him 
into their houses, and were by him informed of Schlat- 
ter's shame. An election for pastor was held, and 
Steiner obtained 140 votes, whilst no voted for Schlat- 
ter. Of course, very many of the votes cast were il- 
legal, for the number of members entitled to a vote was 
by no means that large. Moreover, Schlatter contended 
that the congregation had no right to dismiss him ; he 
appealed to the coetus, and that body decided in his 
favor, because Steiner had no documentary evidence to 
prove his assertions, w'hilst Schlatter could produce the 
best of testimonials and recommendations from the 
proper authorities. 

But Steiner's party would not acknowledge the au- 
thority of coetus, and some very disgraceful proceed- 
ings ensued. To insure possession, Steiner's friends 
went into the church on Saturday evening and stayed 
there all night, with a guard of twenty-four men. When 
Schlatter came with his friends, at the time of service, 
they found Steiner in the pulpit. Schlatter called upon 
him in the name of God to vacate it, but to no effect. 
Then his friends employed a stratagem not unfre- 
quently made use of in similar circumstances by Re- 
formed congregations. In those days the Reformed in 
church sang the psalms, and when they wanted to tire 



76 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



out an obnoxious preacher, they would intone the 1 19th 
psalm, which has 176 verses. And they chanted very 
slowly. Before the singing was over, officers of the 
civil magistrate made their appearance, who vacated the 
building, locked the door, and kept the key. 

Nothing now remained but to institute legal proceed- 
ings. However, a well meaning attorney suggested a 
compromise, and finally the whole question was by com- 
mon consent given into the hands of six arbitrators. 
All of these were Quakers, except one who was an 
Episcopalian. Having heard both parties and exam- 
ined all the evidence, the arbitrators decided in favor 
of Schlatter. The accusations brought forward by 
Steiner's adherents against Schlatter's conduct in 
America could not be sustained, and the reports about 
his conduct in St. Gall were set aside. 

Schlatter and his friends were now again put in pos- 
session of the church building ; Steiner' s friends formed 
another congregation and built a large new church, but 
the disorderly character of the ruling men led to. dis- 
sensions among themselves. Two years later Steiner 
left them, and the whole enterprise eventually failed. 

For Schlatter, however, it was a barren victory; his 
influence was permanently impaired, not in his con- 
gregation only, but among his fellow ministers also t 
The controversy in Philadelphia had lasted from Octo- 
ber, 1749, to April, 1750, and during all this time very 
little could be done to supply the many vacant congre- 
gations with pastors. Steiner had turned against 
Schlatter, and no new minister was sent over in 1750. 



The Deputies and Schlatter. 



77 



Nor did any funds arrive. Boehm had died. To make 
things more gloomy, Bartholomaeus became insane. 
So discouraged were the few pastors left, that no rec- 
ords are extant of the coetus that met in November, 
1750. At a special coetus held December 13, the con- 
clusion was reached that Schlatter should make another 
journey to Europe for ministers and subventions. 

It was winter, and the regular season for navigation 
in those days of sailing vessels had closed. But the 
necessities of the case seemed so urgent that as early as 
February 5, 175 1 Schlatter set sail. With his cus- 
tomary zeal he applied himself most diligently to the 
new task. 

In April he landed in Holland. The next month was 
spent in reporting to the deputies and explaining the 
state of affairs in Pennsylvania. In June he appeared 
before the classis of Amsterdam and met with a very 
favorable reception. His request for an official vindi- 
cation of his course in Philadelphia was granted. His 
description of the destitution of the Reformed multi- 
tudes in Pennsylvania and adjacent States did not fail 
to make the impression desired, and a pious publisher 
of Amsterdam offered to print at his own expense 
Schlatter's journal, in which all his observations and 
experiences made in America during the three years 
spent there had been recorded with great care. To- 
gether with Schlatter's journal, an introduction to the 
same, and an appeal by classis for men and means base : 
upon it was published in Dutch, in German, and in 
English^ all at the same publisher's expense. 

6 



78 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



From classis Schlatter turned to the synods, and these 
responded no less warmly. Upon their representations 
the civil government of the Netherlands voted a sub- 
vention of 2,000 guilders, or florins, — about $800 in our 
money, — to be paid at once, and the same sum yearly 
for five years. Liberal traveling expenses were also 
appropriated for Schlatter's journey through Germany 
and Switzerland. 

The most important and promising objective point of 
this tour was Herborn, at that time the most flourish- 
ing Reformed university of Germany. From there 
Schlatter went further south to Frankfurt A. M., 
Heidelberg, and St. Gall. In his native city he stayed 
several weeks and his reception there seems to prove 
that the circumstances of his sin committed there five 
years previously, admitted of a lenient construction. 
His old teacher, Waegelin, recommended him and his 
cause, and a small donation was contributed. In Heid- 
elberg and in Frankfurt he received several hundred 
dollars; in other places smaller gifts. But the best re- 
sult was obtained in Herborn. Here five candidates 
for the ministry offered their services as missionaries in 
America, all well recommended by their superiors. In 
March, 1752, Schlatter presented them to the classis of 
Amsterdam. They were subjected to a careful and 
even rigorous examination, were found suitable for the 
work, and then solemnly ordained. A sixth one was 
added in the next month. Their names were Ph. Wm. 
Otterbein, J. J. Wissler, Theo. Frankenfeld, Wm. Stoy, 
John Waldschmidt, all of Herborn, and John Ruebel, 



The Deputies and Schlatter. 



79 



of Wald, Rhenish-Prussia, who had absolved his theo- 
logical course in Marburg, Hessia. 

The classis also gave Schlatter a letter to the Phila - 
delphia congregation, ordering them to retain him as 
their pastor, and a letter to Steiner ordering him to re- 
turn eighty dollars given him by the deputies for trav- 
eling expenses. 

Toward the end of June, 1752, after an absence of 
eighteen months, Schlatter landed in Philadelphia. He 
returned apparently successful and victorious, 'having 
obtained liberal offerings and six co-workers and of- 
ficial documents in vindication of himself. But how de- 
ceptive appearances are sometimes ! Not all is gold 
that glitters. In many an apple with red cheeks a 
loathsome worm is gnawing at its heart's core. Would 
to God that all men would realize that a contrite spirit 
only and a humbled heart find favor in the sight of men 
as well as of God. Jesus accepts sinners, it is true, but 
only the penitent ones. And men do not even accept 
the penitent sinner. Most men, most Christians not ex- 
cepted, even if they forgive, cannot forget. God alone 
possesses the power of forgetting what he sees fit to 
forget. Jer. xxxi : 34, "I will forgive their iniquity, 
and I will remember their sin no more/' 

On the other side, sinners, after they have repented 
often forget the lesson of humility. It is reported that 
Schlatter did so. Two of the missionaries brought 
along by him, Wissler and Ruebel 5 immediately upon 
setting foot on American soil, parted company with 
Schlatter. They complained greatly of his imperious 



80 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



manners during the voyage, and Ruebel, who was 
aware of Schlatter's youthful immorality, at once set 
to work to ingratiate himself with the Philadelphia 
congregation and to complete the alienation of their 
feelings from Schlatter. Just as three years before 
Steiner had been taken hold of by Schlatter's oppon- 
ents, they now received Ruebel with open arms, lent 
their ears to his insinuations, closed their pulpit and 
church against Schlatter, and without allowing him to 
present his documents from Holland, elected Ruebel his 
successor. He never again preached there. 

Two more of his intended co-workers failed him later 
on. Stoy proved a great stirrer up of strife, and after 
giving his brethren untold trouble, turned independent. 
Waldschmidt grew negligent after a short period of 
usefulness, and ended in indifference. 

During Schlatter's absence the meeting of coetus in 
175 1 had been attended by three members only, who 
realizing that something must be done to encourage the 
others, issued a circular letter telling of the good suc- 
cess in Europe and holding out bright prospects of help 
at hand. In consequence, when coetus met again in 
annual session after Schlatter's return, the attendance 
was better. Four older members were present at Lan- 
caster, October 18, 1752, Weiss, Schlatter, Rieger, and 
Leidich. The five new ones, and three, whose ordina- 
tion and reinstation had been submitted to the deputies 
and had been favorably acted upon, Lischy, Dubois, 
and Tempelmann, swelled the number to twelve. 

But Schlatter at once threw the apple of discord 



Weinheim, the birthplace of Tempelmann. 




The Deputies and Schlatter. 



81 



among them. He insisted that elders should have no 
vote, and after he had carried his point, was unani- 
mously elected president. But Ruebel, who had been 
delayed on his journey, after the election made his ap- 
pearance with his two elders and created a great up- 
roar, loudly protesting against Schlatter's fitness for the 
presidency. 

His protest was overruled, but he did not stand 
alone, and so strong was the feeling that besides him 
three ministers, led by Weiss, with their elders left the 
meeting. Nor was this all. Worse things were to 
come. The next year saw two rival coetus in session, 
of equal numerical strength, both of which appealed to 
the deputies for recognition. And by this time the dep- 
uties lost confidence in Schlatter. For some time they 
had become suspicious of his character, and they had 
written to St. Gall for full information. In response 
they had received a letter from Pastor Wirtz, in Zurich, 
revealing the whole story. In consequence, Schlatter 
offered his resignation to the deputies, which was ac- 
cepted. On his next trip to Holland he appeared be- 
fore them and confessed all. The official minutes of his 
examination on this occasion as well as Wirz's letter 
are preserved in the archives of Amsterdam. 

Hereupon the disunited members of coetus reunited; 
they repealed the act by which elders had been pre- 
cluded from voting, and held good, harmonious meet- 
ings in 1754 and 1755. But Schlatter never afterwards 
attended any of them. 



82 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



Before concluding the account of Schlatter's life, it 
seems proper to finish the account of Weiss' life and 
labors. Although Ruebel was the instigator of the 
strife, his character did not command sufficient respect 
to make him leader of the opposition. If Weiss had 
not committed himself to such an extent as to head the 
organization of a coetus free from Schlatter's influence, 
things might have taken an altogether different turn, 
for behind Schlatter the deputies stood, and behind the 
deputies the missionary aid and appropriations, and 
without these they would have been greatly crippled 
by poverty. 

Weiss lived nine years longer. He died in 1761 in 
Goschenhoppen, his last charge, sixty-one years old. 
His share in the making of the Pennsylvania church 
w T as somewhat troublous. First he opposed Boehm on 
the ground that he was not ordained. After Boehm's 
ordination he co-operated with him. Then he went to 
Holland with Reiff, and aroused the sympathies of the 
church there so intensely that the deputies were elected. 
When sixteen years later the deputies sent Schlatter, 
he stood by him at first, but gradually withdrew from 
him and finally by openly opposing him may be said 
to have saved the life of coetus. 

In the unsavory Reiff affair, Weiss' character came 
out without blemish. His integrity was not called in 
question by any one. 

As a matter of curiosity, it may be noted here that he 
published the first book, or rather pamphlet, ever 
written by a German Reformed minister in America, 



The Deputies and Schlatter. 



83 



"A Refutation of the New Born." The New Born are 
here represented as teaching that they need not pray, 
being one with God and illumined by the Holy Spirit. 
For the same reason they need neither ministers, nor 
public service, nor sacrament. 

A copy of the pamphlet is preserved in the National 
library at Washington. The contents are cast in the 
form of a dialogue. 

Weiss owned a family of slaves. After his death 
they were given their liberty by his widow, who also 
made liberal provision for them by legacy. 



Schlatter's career after his resignation has no bear- 
ing on the church. He entirely ignored the coetus and 
the coetus entirely ignored him, although he lived 
nearly forty years longer. 

On his second trip to Holland he became identified 
with a charitable work of great promise, which, how- 
ever, ended in total disappointment and caused much 
ill feeling. The King of England and the heads of 
the church there had been told that the numerous Ger- 
man settlers in Pennsylvania constituted a dangerous 
element. At that time, the French and Indian war, 
1755-1763, was about to break out, which was to de- 
cide whether North America was to be all English, or 
half French. Suspicions were aroused that the Ger- 
mans in Pennsylvania, through ignorance of the Eng- 
lish language, might side with the French. There was 
not the slightest cause for such suspicion, for 
the Germans and the French are hereditary and in- 



84 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



veterate enemies. At that very time the Germans felt 
more bitterly than ever against the French, because 
the beautiful regions of Rhineland, where the bulk of 
the Germans in Pennsylvania had come from, were 
devastated so cruelly and wantonly. 

Moreover, these Germans were misrepresented as 
totally destitute of churches and pastors, and fast re- 
lapsing into savagery. By highly colored appeals along 
these lines large sums of money, amounting to $20,000 
in our money, were raised, and just at that juncture 
Schlatter made his appearance. Since he was so fa- 
miliar with the state of things in Pennsylvania and 
had so much experience in traveling there, he seemed 
to be the right man to act as agent of the new charity, 
he having well proved his activity and zeal. So it came 
about, in February 1755, that he was appointed super- 
visor of charity schools in Pennsylvania to be estab- 
lished among the Germans to learn English. For a 
short time the work went on finely ; in one report nine 
such schools are enumerated, with 600 boys taught. 
But when the Germans learned how they had been 
misrepresented, a storm of indignation arose so violent 
that the whole scheme collapsed. 

At that time the Province of Pennsylvania had what 
is called a proprietary government, i. e., the governor 
was appointed by the proprietors, the Penns, and the 
people had no voice in filling the office. In consequence, 
the people had but little love for their governors, and 
since the governors favored the new charity schools, 
the people felt the more suspicious of them. Schlatter, 



The Deputies and Schlatter. 



85 



however, stood well with the governor, and when the 
schools failed, was given another appointment, a chap- 
laincy in a crack regiment, the Royal regiment levied 
in Pennsylvania, which formed part of an expedition 
sent to capture Halifax and Louisburg in French 
Canada. Schlatter went with the expedition, but re- 
turned home in 1759, the year after the surrender of 
Louisburg. 

Ever after, for thirty years, he led a quiet life with 
his family on a small farm by him named Sweetland, 
four miles from Germantown on the Reading turnpike. 
The place at present is called Barren Hill and Chestnut 
Hill, and is dotted all over with beautiful residences 
for wealthy Philadelphians. 

The proceeds of the farm worked by his boys, and his 
salary from an independent congregation there helped 
support his family, but his main income was derived 
from marriage fees. He still retained and used his title 
of Chaplain in the Royal Regiment, and continued cul- 
tivating the society of aristocratic friends that gave him 
a high social standing. This, together with the locality 
of his house, well suited for love affairs and marriages, 
and his social habits, made him the popular dispenser of 
marriage bliss. From Dec. 23, 1768, to July 9, 1770, he 
reported 64 marriages and received $185 in fees, and 
this was by no means an extraordinary season. 

This idyllic life was interrupted but once, in 1777, 
when after the fall of Philadelphia, British soldiers 
plundered his house and kept him imprisoned for a 
short time. 



86 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



He died in October, 1790, aged 74 years. 

By some authors Schlatter has been represented as a 
saint and a hero. Men love to worship heroes, and 
Christians love to worship saints. But history must be 
true and impartial. Untrue history is unscriptural, for 
scripture does not conceal the sins of its holiest men. 
It is a dangerous error to think that God rules his 
church by the virtues and the wisdom of sinless or 
comparatively sinless men. He rather overrules the 
follies and shortcomings of her leaders. For the Roman 
Catholic church it may be the necessary thing to fill her 
people with a superstitious awe and reverence for her 
leaders. She wants a strong government by men of 
might. But it behooves the Reformed church rather to 
magnify God and to recognize His consummate wisdom 
in the mastery with which He accomplishes the great- 
est things through weak and ignoble instrumentalities, 
even as human mastery in art is evidenced by wonder- 
ful workmanship done with tools defective and seem- 
ingly unserviceable. 

Nor would it seem pleasing in the sight of God to 
build magnificent tombs for prophets stoned by their 
cotemporaries. Schlatter's cotemporaries were rather 
severe on his faults, but his indefatigable zeal, his buoy- 
ant hopefulness, and his unselfish indifference to the 
accumulation of wealth might still have served the 
church to very good purpose, if men could have for- 
given and — forgotten. As it was, this much is true, 
that Schlatter worked hard and died poor, and that his 
work lives on, though he was buried before he died. 



IV. THE REVIVALS. 



When Schlatter put forth his last grand effort to re- 
cover his ground, and succeeded in enlisting six addi- 
tional ministers for America, he could not divine that 
one of them, Otterbein, the best of them, would be im- 
mortalized by a new sect. Nor was he, probably, aware 
that at that time a new star had appeared in the Church 
of England, Wesley, who was not only to found a new 
sect, but to herald a new era in Christendom, the era 
of an active membership, active in spiritual things. The 
founder of Methodism differed from the Pietists and 
the Moravians in that he made the whole world his 
parish, and the whole parish his clergy. Every one must 
seek the conversion of every one he comes in contact 
with. Not that he had more religion than they, but that 
his religion was cast more aggressive than theirs. 

Of these things Schlatter knew nothing. But God 
knew. And God looked down upon the German Re- 
formed church in Pennsylvania in great mercy, to make 
her share in the new element of power. In the first 
quarter of the century some leaven of pietism had been 
mingled with her meal ; in the second, Zinzendorf, who 
had been brought up as a pietist, brought some of his 
peculiar gifts to her work; in the third the deputies en- 
riched her life with the tonic of matured calvinistic dis- 
cipline; and in the fourth, Wesley, who dated his con- 

87 



88 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



version from a Moravian prayer-meeting, contributed 
to her heavenly treasure gems of new lustre. 

Ph. Wm. Otterbein was born in 1726 in Siegenland, 
the same that gave birth to Haegener, pastor of the 
first German Reformed congregation ever formed in 
the New World. His father, a minister, died early, but 
his mother was one of those quiet women, who seem so 
inert and who develop so much reserved power when 
the times come that try men's souls and test their metal. 
She was a poor widow, but she moved to Herborn with 
her six sons, and there gave every one of them a univer- 
sity education, struggling on and working on with that 
heroism of self-denial, of persistence, and of incessant 
prayer, of which so few women and still fewer men 
seem capable. And she received an earnest of her 
reward when her motherly eye saw every one of her 
six sons active in the gospel ministry, and every one of 
them a blessing to many others. 

In those days the Pietists inaugurated the modern 
work of foreign missions, which has since grown to 
such wonderful dimensions that 16,000 missionaries, 
aided by many more native helpers, are now in the field 
of glory. It was in 1706 that the Pietist university of 
Halle recommended one of its students, Ziegenbalg, to 
the King of Denmark for missionary work in the Dan- 
ish colony of Tranquebar, where he gathered the 
Tamuls into Christian churches, the first foreign mis- 
sionary of Protestantism. 

Mother Otterbein became greatly interested in this 
new departure of Christian activity, and frequently she 



The Revivals. 



89 



was heard to say : "My William will have to be a mis- 
sionary, he is so frank and so open, so natural and so 
prophet-like." Her wish was fulfilled, though in an un- 
expected way, in 1752, when Schlatter came to Herborn 
with the appeal and the recommendations of the Hol- 
land deputies. He had not been able to enlist any candi- 
dates in Switzerland, nor in Heidelberg either. But in 
Herborn he found ears to hear and eyes to see. The en- 
tire faculty seconded his efforts, and six young brethren 
offered their services. 

There is found in the Herborn college- journal a 
significant entry dated February 25, 1752, written by 
Henry Schramm, professor of practical theology, ai 
follows : "Rev. Mr. Schlatter handed me a list of the 
candidates he desires to take along with him to Pennsyl- 
vania, and prays that we give them a general academic 
testimonial. Shall they have such?" To which John 
Eberhard Rau, professor of Oriental languages, makes 
answer : "Yes ; I hope that there is none who would not 
be glad to see ministers desire rather to work in for- 
eign lands than in their own country." Such was the 
missionary spirit of the professors of Herborn. 

Nor was Otterbein's mother less willing. Unhesitat- 
ingly she gave up one whom she had borne in sorrow 
and on whom she had lavished her love through years 
of self-denial. Taking William by his hand and press- 
ing it to her bosom throbbing with such anguish as only 
a mother feels, she said : "Go. The Lord bless thee and 
keep thee. On earth I may not see thy face again. 
But go." He never forgot her. As long as she lived he 



90 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



each year sent her a generous portion of his scanty 
salary, fifty guilders. 

Upon his arrival in Philadelphia he was assigned to 
one of the most important, and at the same time one of 
the most unfortunate charges, the child of many sor- 
rows in the family. The city of Lancaster, in the pres- 
ent time, is one of the centers of church activity, the 
seat of an academy, a college, and a theological semi- 
nary, altogether with twenty professors and five 
hundred students. In four beautiful churches, three 
English and one German, Reformed pastors serve large 
and influential congregations. But Otterbein found 
Lancaster a Rachel weeping for her children and refus- 
ing to be comforted. 

The church building had been erected in 1736 under 
Pastor Joh. lac. Hock, who left after a pastorate of 
but sixteen months and was not heard of afterwards. 
Then Rieger came, who received Zinzendorf and was 
by his people turned out of the pulpit for loving him too 
well, but not wisely. The congregation never after 
could be persuaded to forgive their pastor or to take 
him back. In 1745 a certain pastor, Caspar Louis 
Schnorr, commissioned by the church government of 
Zweibruecken in the Palatinate to go to Tulpehocken, 
became pastor of the Lancaster congregation. He quar- 
reled long and bitterly with Rieger, who still lingered 
in Lancaster and longed for his former pulpit; besides 
this, Schnorr was a drunkard, and his scandalous life 
brought disgrace upon himself and his people. Then 
LiscJiy, after he had left the Moravians, essayed minis- 



The Revivals. 



91 



tering unto them, but never could win their full esteem 
and confidence. In 1748 young Hochreutiner was to 
serve them, but lost his life when on the point of start- 
ing from Philadelphia. 

Through all these troubles the congregation retained 
a very large membership. Schlatter adminstered the 
Lord's Supper to 250 persons, but for three years could 
find no pastor for them, during w'hich time the school- 
master conducted the services and read sermons. In 
1750 Schlatter sent Louis Fred. Vock, but he proved 
unsuitable, being too old, and leading an improper life. 
After a very short pastorate he had to leave again. 

Finally, it was in this same church at Lancaster that 
the disastrous coetus meeting of 1752 was held, where 
four ministers left and formed a rival coetus. 

In these circumstances, although Otterbein here 
found an abundance of what is called material — Stoff, 
matter — he could hardly expect to find much spirit. But 
those old German congregations made up in cohesive- 
ness what they lacked in aggressiveness. The average 
German Christian harbors more of faith in Christ and 
love to Christ than he is apt to show. In spite of all the 
misfortunes that had befallen the Lancaster flock, the 
life of the congregation at once revived under Otter- 
bein's preaching. Large and attentive audiences crowd- 
ed the building. The year following, a larger stone 
church was built. 

So far, so good. But the true church, the Jerusalem 
gathered by Christ Himself from on high, is built of 



92 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



lively stones. And it pleased God to bless them with in- 
crease of life as well as of size. 

One Sunday, after Otterbein had preached an incis- 
ive sermon on repentance and faith, a man powerfully 
convicted of his sinfulness came to Otterbein's house 
for spiritual advice. That was a new experience for the 
young minister. True enough, he was not devoid of 
Christian life; almost all his lifetime he had breathed 
the atmosphere of communion with Christ and His 
saints. He was no stranger to the personal knowledge 
of sin and misery, which according to the Heidelberg 
catechism is the first thing necessary to salvation. But 
he lacked that power of the Spirit, which enables 
Christ's servants properly to guide souls anxiously 
seeking salvation. He did not know what to say in pri- 
vate to the man whose soul he had stirred up in public. 
He looked upon him, and with deep emotion said: 
yjltin ^veunb ; bet tnir tft t)eute guter dtat teuer. "My 
friend, good advice is scarce with me to-day." 

The young ruler of Luke xviii:i8 lacked one thing, 
and Christ told him what it was. He must consecrate 
himself to God's service all in all. But the young ruler 
was not ready then to take that step. Most Christians 
when challenged by Jesus for a full surrender of all, 
plead for more time. Unwisely so. The more con- 
venient season, to-morrow, moves with man as the 
moon does with the nocturnal wanderer. To-morrow is 
never. But Otterbein chose the part of wisdom. Im- 
mediately, just as he was, he repaired to his study, and 
there unreservedly consecrated himself to his Lord, and 



The Revivals. 



93 



the Lord accepted him — He always does — and endowed 
him with power from above, Acts i :8, and invested him 
with the full insignia of his office, David's Key. 

Henceforth, in his pastoral work, he could effectually 
reach out for higher things than the external upbuild- 
ing of his congregation, and could lead in person many 
of his members to the personal Christ. To his great 
sorrow, however, he saw that the leading men and the 
bulk of his people continued in comparative indiffer- 
ence. The fact is, that generally the mind of the con- 
gregation has more influence than the pastor's mind. 
The conversation of the membership, their every-day 
talk, is greater in force as well as in volume than the 
pastor's talk. They are too many for him alone. It is 
only when his words are seconded by the leaders of the 
church that the seed, after it has germinated and sprout- 
ed, receives the fostering care, the watering, and the 
sheltering needed to mature the tender plant to the full 
stature of Christ, Eph. iv:i3- 

Otterbein's leading men in Lancaster, it is true, did 
not object to the intensified earnestness of the member- 
ship awakened by the pastor's zeal; they rather ap- 
proved of it, since it filled the pews and the exchecquer. 
But they did what was worse. They remained care- 
less and indifferent for themselves, nor would they even 
yield so much to his earnest expostulations as to ex- 
clude from the Lord's table members leading immoral 
lives. They could not be made to see that for this very 
fact many were sickly and many slept. I. Cor. xi : 30. 

Accordingly, Otterbein prepared to leave them. When 

7 



94 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



accepting their call he had engaged himself for five 
years. At the expiration of the time he announced his 
determination to seek another field of labor. But they 
were very loth to let him go, and remembering his 
desire to have unworthy members excluded from com- 
munion they now promised to yield to his wishes if he 
would consent to stay with them. His fellow pastors 
in coetus-meeting joined their entreaties to those of 
the congregation. Under such pressure Otterbein could 
not well refuse. But he would stay no longer than one 
year, and at the end of his sixth year of service he 
resigned unconditionally. 

During his pastorate, among other good things, the 
custom was introduced that before each communion the 
pastor had a personal interview with each communicant 
on the condition of his faith-life, a custom borrowed 
from the Reformed churches in the lower Rhine region. 
The Lancaster people kept it up for three quarters of 
a century. " 

From Lancaster Otterbein went to a quiet country 
charge, Tulpehocken, where he rested from the great 
strain to which his mind had been put, but did by no 
means abstain from work, for how could the Christ in 
man's heart be idle? Love never is. He here made 
good progress in learning how to do personal work. 

In 1760 he accepted a call to Frederick, Md., where 
he was able from the start to present the gospel in that 
incisive form in which John saw it proceed from 
Christ's mouth, like a two-edged sword, and in which 
the author of the epistle to the Hebrews describes it, 



The Revivals. 



95 



chap, iv: 12, "piercing even to the dividing asunder 
of soul and spirit/' Preaching of that sort is the kind 
that calls forth active opposition, and active opposition 
is far less to be feared than a stolid, passive indiffer- 
ence. 

When, one Sunday morning, one of the leading men 
locked the church door against Otterbein and could 
not be prevailed upon to open it for the large audience 
that had gathered, Otterbein, like the war-horse scent- 
ing the battle from afar, put on his whole gospel-armor 
and, standing on a large tombstone in the churchyard, 
joyfully preached such a sermon that the key had to 
come forth from his opponent's pocket, and the same 
hands that had locked the door felt constrained to 
unlock it again. Evidently the key of David, Rev. iii : 
7, was not in the enemy's hand, but in that of the fear- 
less preacher. 

A new stone church was built here under Otterbein's 
ministrations, just as it had been done in Lancaster, but 
more than that was built, the temple of lively stones, 
Sebenbxge ©tetne. I. Pet. ii: 5, a fellowship of true be- 
lievers, among whom there never were wanting men 
able to conduct meetings when their pastor was absent, 
men who held prayer-meetings for many years after 
Otterbein had left and a successor had been elected 
that did not favor them. 

In a report of the coetus, Otterbein is represented as 
"having worked himself nearly to death in Frederick," 
and no wonder, for, not content with work in his own 



96 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



charge, he preached all over Maryland and far into 
Virginia. 

After five years of hard work here, he went to York, 
Pa., choosing this call from a large number of others 
received. While there, he made his long intended trip 
to Europe, once more to visit the home of his youth, 
after an absence of eighteen years. To his great joy 
he found his aged mother still living, and so were his 
five brothers, now all active pastors in the Reformed 
church. His brother, George Godfrey, pastor in Duis- 
burg, was a standard bearer of the faithful in their 
battle with the powerful current of Rationalism at that 
time in the flush of popularity. When William told 
him of his personal experience in Lancaster, he listened 
with deep interest, and no sooner was the testimony 
finished than he arose from his chair, embraced his 
American brother, and, with tears flowing, said, "My 
dear brother William, now we are more than brothers 
in the flesh, we are one in the spirit; blessed be the 
name of the Lord !" 

Returned to America he found a number of calls 
awaiting him. His York people would have been but 
too glad to retain him, just as those in Frederick, Tul- 
pehocken, and Lancaster were, for as Stahlschmidt 
writes : "He is a very gentle and kind man, and re- 
spected everywhere because of his pious and godly 
manners/' But for that very reason scarcely a year 
passed by without his receiving invitations and calls 
from other places. Church people may not always be 
willing to accept for themselves the glorious joy' and 



The Revivals. 



97 



the sweet peace in store for all who surrender entirely 
to their most gracious. Lord, but they always recognize 
the blessing bestowed on such men, whenever in their 
daily walk they meet them, and feel attracted by them. 

Finally Baltimore succeeded in securing him. 

Of the origin and the early history of the Reformed 
church in Baltimore but little is known. Probably it 
is of more recent date than that of Philadelphia, the 
tide of immigration into Maryland having set in con- 
siderably later. The first mention made of a congre- 
gation in Baltimore is that in 1765 it is reported va- 
cant. In 1768 John Christopher Faber was called by 
it, an orthodox minister with a thorough university 
training obtained at Heidelberg; but he had been re- 
jected by the Deputies when he applied for their as- 
sistance and recommendation. He then came over on 
his own responsibility and found an open door in Bal- 
timore. But he proved cold and tedious in the pulpit, 
and his conversation under the pulpit was devoid of 
the salt — entertaining rather than elevating. For that 
reason, a number of the members, under the leadership 
of Pastor Benedict Schwob, had left his church and 
had formed a new organization. This Schwob had 
been an elder in a neighboring country church, of good 
moral character, with the love of Christ in his heart, 
and coetus had ordained him, since he proved suffi- 
ciently well educated.* Under Schwob the new con- 

*His ordination was, later on, acquiesced in by the Deputies, 
because they considered their authority confined to the limits 
of Pennsylvania. 



98 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



gregation built a chapel and seemed prosperous, but 
there was constant friction and bad feeling between 
the old and the new congregation. Upon their ap- 
pealing to coetus they were advised both to dismiss 
their pastors, which they did, without, however, ef- 
fecting a reunion. Several pastors were recommend- 
ed to them, but none of them would accept a field so 
full of difficulties. Finally Schwob recommended 
Otterbein, and he accepted, much to the surprise of 
his brother ministers. They mostly favored the older 
congregation; the Deputies also sided with them. The 
membership of the new one was small, and it did seem 
strange that he should leave after a short pastorate of 
three years only the large and peaceful flock at York, 
where he enjoyed the love and confidence of all, for 
what might be called a crown of thorns. But, like all 
the charges so far served by him, the York congrega- 
tion was by no means a unit in Christian sentiment; 
and by this time he had learned by much and varied 
experience that a house divided against itself, Matth. 
xii:25, does not form a good base of operations in 
Christian warfare. In general, congregations retain 
the character of their founders. First impressions are 
lasting impressions. Now at last an opportunity pre- 
sented itself to work in a congregation avowedly 
formed under the standard of the Christ with the 
promise of the Holy Spirit for all believers, in oppo- 
sition to a Gospel without His power. To him this 
seemed his golden opportunity, the turning tide in his 
affairs that comes but once in human life. He seized 



The Revivals. 



99 



it, and he chose well. More than forty years he was 
permitted to spend here in labor owned by Christ and 
richly blessed by God. 

This change of field was made in 1774. But in 
order to fully understand the nature of Otterbein's 
labors in Baltimore, it is necessary to turn back to 
what had happened years before. In 1744 one of the 
great lights in the European churches came to Amer- 
ica, George White-field, on a similar errand, and by a 
similar providence to that of Zinzendorf in 1741. By 
a significant coincidence he came in the very same year 
that an American revivalist of different stamp, Jona- 
than Edwards, broke with the "half-way covenant." 
Whitefield created a widespread sensation. His audi- 
ences were numbered by thousands and by myriads. 
His impassionate words stirred up the sober minds of 
the eastern colonist as well as of the less educated pio- 
neer of the west. Never before had America witnessed 
such a tumult of holy emotions. And as often as he 
repeated his visits, and as far as he extended them all 
over the colonies, invariably the same results would 
follow : immense crowds, frequent conversions of 
hardened sinners, and jubilant rejoicings in the power 
of the Spirit. 

The Reformed church never has been of the Chi- 
nese-wall-celestial-empire kind. Her heart always 
beat in sympathy with the pulsations of Christ-life 
everywhere. It had warmed when Zinzendorf came; 
it warmed again when Whitfield came, and twenty 
years before Otterbein went to Baltimore, many Re- 



LofC. 



100 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



formed congregations in southern Pennsylvania and in 
Maryland had come to feel the effects of the revival- 
ists' fervent eloquence. 

About fourteen years before, in 1760, it came to pass 
that a Mennonite preacher plowed his field not far 
from Lancaster. Mennonite ministers have to handle 
the plow, since they receive no salaries. But this one, 
Martin Boehm, was only half a minister. He had 
been elected preacher, and had essayed to preach, but 
again and again he had failed. He might have talked, 
but being an earnest and sincere man he could not 
thrash empty straw, and to do justice to the Gospel of 
infinite grace, words failed him. And now, whilst 
plowing, he came to feel his failure so keenly that he 
fell on his knees in a plow-furrow, and in answer to 
his supplications, thought he heard a voice in his heart 
crying: „53erloren, Dertoren!" "Lost, lost !" "Then 
let me go on with my farm-work/' he said to himself, 
and again he put his hand to the plow. But the voice 
seemed to follow him through every round, and at 
length, unable to contain himself any longer, he knelt 
down in the middle of his field, crying: "Lord, save 
me, I perish !" Then came to his thoughts another 
voice, saying: "I am come to seek and save that which 
is lost." And immediately there was in his heart the 
unspeakable joy of salvation. 

Now he was able to preach to purpose. His small 
meeting-house could not hold his audiences, and after 
the custom of those days, a grojse SSerfcmratlimg, 



The Revivals. 



101 



a large meeting, was called in Isaac Long's barn, near 
Lancaster. Here some Lutherans and Reformed at- 
tended, and Otterbein also was present, who at that 
time was serving the Tulpehocken charge, his soul yet 
aglow with the first love of a fully consecrated life. 
Hearing Boehm's stirring words, he could not control 
his emotions, but rushed forward and, unmindful of 
clerical dignity, folded the plainly attired preacher in 
his arms, exclaiming with a loud voice, "We are breth- 
ren." 

After that, many similar meetings were held where 
the two worked together, and a close friendship sprung 
up between them. 

In Baltimore another prominent revivalist entered 
into intimate friendship with Otterbein, Francis As- 
bury, one of the founders of the Methodist Church in 
America — a friendship maintained unbroken until Ot- 
terbein's death. Such was Asbury's intimacy with 
Otterbein that, when Asbury was to be ordained to the 
office of bishop, Otterbein was asked to assist. He 
did not, however, comply. Probably he had become 
aware of the distrust likely to be produced in the minds 
of his people by so pronounced an intercourse with 
the leader of another denomination. 

The same consideration seems to have guided him 
in holding the so-called Antietam meetings. He knew 
how to appreciate the blessings derived from mass- 
meetings, where earnest Christians coming from dif- 
ferent congregations may exchange their thoughts, to 



102 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



receive new impulses of love and to be inspired with 
increased faith. But he -had also learned to fear the 
dangers connected with interdenominational meetings. 
Churches then were not ripe for them. Many will 
never be ripe for them before the advent of Christ. 
Otterbein now preferred to have gatherings controlled 
by persons of his own church. 

The first were held at Antietam, the celebrated bat- 
tleground of a later time. The first one of which 
records have been preserved met at Pipe creek, and 
was attended by members from Baltimore, Frederick, 
Antietam, and other places. At the next meeting, held 
in October of the same year, six Reformed ministers 
were present. In June of the next year another was 
held in Frederick, with 300 persons present; next they 
met in Baltimore, in October. Subsequently a few 
more meetings were held, but the War of Independ- 
ence, with its troubles, put an end to them. 

In themselves such mass meetings were not entirely 
new in the Reformed church. Similar ones had been 
held in the Lower Rhine region, but a new feature 
made its appearance in the Antietam meetings — the 
appointment of class-leaders for the spiritually minded 
in each congregation represented. The name of class- 
leaders was borrowed from the Methodists and indi- 
cates that these men were to hold class-meetings, the 
main feature of which is that those present tell of 
their own spiritual condition, and that is something 
foreign to Reformed usage. The Reformed always 
have had prayer-meetings. Voetius, who died in 1676, 



The Revivals. 



103 



professor in Utrecht, a champion of orthodoxy, was 
a warm advocate of the "Collegia Pietatis," week-day- 
meetings for prayer and Bible study. But as to a reg- 
ular weekly account given of each participant's inner 
life, that would not seem in accordance with the proper 
distrust in man's knowledge of self and of God's 
secrets, Deut. xxix, 29* There is also much of mystery 
in the New Testament. As we believe in the mysterious 
presence of the Lord in the communion-service of be- 
lievers, so we desire to continue in "Holding the mys- 
tery of the faith," I. Tim. iii : 9. And mysteries must 
not be and cannot be made the subject of testimony in 
meeting. They are between God and the individual. 

The United Brethren in Christ — which organization 
grew out of the Big Meetings, not the Antietam meet- 
ings, claim Otterbein as their founder. But he, as 
well as the other five Reformed pastors interested in 
the Antietam meetings, never left their church. The 
next active after Otterbein, John Wm. Hendel, pastor 
in Philadelphia, and honored by Princeton College 
with the title of D. D., prepared a large number of 
young men for the Reformed ministry. All of them 
held prayer-meetings that were meetings of prayer, 
and all of them practiced church discipline that pun- 
ished. 

It must be admitted, however, that Otterbein's atti- 
tude toward the church is not quite as clear as that of 
those five. Some of the facts in his later life are hard 



*The secret things belong unto the Lord our God. 



104 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



to harmonize. The new church organization was per- 
fected September 25, 1800, with the election of Otter- 
bein as bishop and Martin Boehm as his associate. 
And yet, six years later, 1806, Otterbein attended the 
meeting of coetus. At this meeting the rationalistic 
element came to the front, grown powerful partly 
through the incoming of rationalistically trained min- 
isters from Germany, partly through the general deca- 
dence of religion following in the train of the revolu- 
tionary war. War is hell, not only by fostering vice in 
camp-life, but also by giving patriotism the precedence 
over loyalty to Christ and his church, and overshadow- 
ing the glory of true Christian heroism in the humbler 
walks with the fascinating glamor of military heroism. 

At the coetus (now synod) meeting of 1806, Pastor 
Becker, a student of Halle, where rationalism by that 
time had succeeded pietism, made so fierce an attack 
on Otterbein that Otterbein abruptly left, and never 
came again. It is reported, however, that Rev. Isaac 
Geriiart paid him a visit in 1812, and was told by him 
explicitly that he considered himself a member of the 
German Reformed synod, only that from old age he 
could no longer attend to meetings. 

Perhaps he considered the United Brethren in Christ 
an interdenominational society like the Tract Society 
or the Bible Society, membership in which would by 
no means conflict with church-membership. 

When Otterbein died in 18 13, aged 87 years, he was 
trustee of the church property, and willed it to the Re- 
formed church. But his will was set aside, and the 



The Revivals. 



105 



large congregation with the church on Conway street 
built by him, passed over into the hands of the United 
Brethren. 

If the Reformed church failed to obtain the full 
benefit of his abundant labors, a two-fold lesson drawn 
from that fact suggests itself. To be cautious in 
colabor with men of other denominations and in mak- 
ing use of extraordinary meetings and measures, on 
the one hand; and on the other hand, to be cautious 
in opposing good men in the church when burning 
with pious zeal they use means and methods different 
from the customary church-work. 

ALBERT CONRAD HELFFENSTEIN. 

Another leading revivalist of the Reformed church 
of those days was Albert Conrad Helffenstein, a man 
of old Reformed stock, whose descendants, however, 
like Otterbein's congregation, have passed into another 
church. 

His great-grandfather, in the thirty years' war, nar- 
rowly escaped from the Catholics seeking to kill him 
for his loyalty to his Reformed church. His father, a 
prominent minister of the Palatinate, longed to go to 
America, to escape from the worldliness and rational- 
ism then prevailing among his fellow ministers, but 
never could carry out his purpose. However, he en- 
couraged his two sons to go. One was Albert Conrad 
and the other John Henry Helffrich (half brother, 
whose descendants have in unbroken succession served 
part of one and the same charge, near Allentown, Pa). 



106 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



After the completion of Albert's studies in Heidelberg 
the two brothers applied through their father to the 
Deputies, and were by them sent to Pennsylvania. 

They had a long and stormy passage, from Septem- 
ber 6, 1771, to January 14, 1772, suffering greatly from 
sickness, hunger, and thirst, frequently in peril of life. 
In those times passengers had to furnish their own 
provisions, and the two brothers had been too poor to 
lay in a supply sufficient for four months. But God 
turned their misery into a great blessing. 

Once an immense wave nearly washed Albert Helf- 
fenstein overboard. It was on January 7, 1772, a date 
never after forgotten by him, a true red-letter day, 
for then and there in the anguish of his soul he gave 
his whole heart to the King, whose garments are red 
with blood "from the wrath of God." Is. Ixiii : 1. God 
stilled the storm. After that, their voyage proceeded 
prosperously. Seven days later he landed safely in 
New York. 

His first charge was Germantown. Four years later 
he was called to Lancaster. Here he continued the 
work of bringing souls to decide for Christ, as Otter- 
bein had done fourteen years before, and after him 
Hendel from 1765-68. But the Germantown people 
were so warmly attached to Helffenstein that after 
three years they succeeded in again securing his ser- 
vices, and keeping him to the end of his life, ten years 
later. 

He was one of the most impressive preachers. On 
one occasion he mounted his pulpit, closed his eyes, 



The Revivals. 



107 



bowed his head, folded his hands, and exclaimed: 
"Lord, save me or I perish." Some of his hearers took 
alarm, supposing him in physical distress, but he had 
in mind Peter sinking in the Sea of Galilee, when at- 
tempting to walk on the water with Jesus. In a few 
seconds he opened his eyes and proceeded, "Thus it 
was that Peter cried when he saw himself in danger 
of sinking/' 

After this first introduction he offered prayer, ac- 
cording to his habit, and then the second introduction 
followed, based on another text, and then the sermon 
on the Sunday's text. Of course, singing by the con- 
gregation came in between. 

During his pastorate at Lancaster, a large number 
of Hessian prisoners of war were kept there. To them 
he once preached on Is. lii :2, "For thus saith the Lord, 
Ye have sold yourselves for nought, and shall be re- 
deemed without money/' Llis hearers felt the sting 
and the shame of their mercenary soldiership more 
strongly than the healing balsam of promise contained 
in the text, and greatly resented the preacher's plain- 
ness of speech. 

On a later occasion, after a sermon on the text, "If 
the son make you free, ye shall be free indeed," John 
viii : 36, the excitement of the prisoners rose to so high 
a pitch that he had to be sent home under a safeguard. 

There are those who want ministers to say peace, 
peace only and never to unsheath the two-edged sword, 
and under such preaching they are very apt to fall 
asleep. But there was not much sleeping done under 



108 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



Helffenstein's preaching, and often great awakenings 
followed. He was no dim tallow candle, but a burning 
and a shining light, highly tempered steel burning in 
pure oxygen with unearthly brightness but rapidly con- 
suming itself and soon dying of its own intensiveness. 
He died at the age of 42 years only, when his church 
was in the midst of a revival. 



A third one of those revivalists may close their rec- 
ord here, 

JOS. CHRISTIAN STAHLSCHMIDT. 

He was born in 1740 in the Siegenland, the home of 
Otterbein and Haegener. There he had attended 
prayer meetings of awakened men, but had been forced 
by his father to forsake them. Unable to bear life at 
home under such conditions, he went to sea and spent 
ten years before the mast, among rude scoffers. But 
he kept close to Christ, and whenever on furlough, 
sought the fellowship of disciples. Twice during this 
time he visited his dear Tersteegen in Muelheim. 

In 1770 he came to Philadelphia, where Dr. Wey- 
berg, one of Otterbein's friends, was serving the Re- 
formed congregation. Both Weyberg and Otterbein 
encouraged him to study for the ministry, and under 
Hendel's supervision he did so, privately. The Ger- 
mantown congregation gave him a call, and Otterbein^ 
Hendel, and Helffenstein urged its acceptance upon 
him, but he felt diffident and it was only seven years 
later that he accepted a call to a country charge near 
York. 



The Revivals. 



109 



People here were divided on the question of loyalty 
to King or Congress. Stahlschmidt believed on the 
ground of Rom. xiii: 1-2, that one should be subject 
to the de facto government, but the royalists among his 
members, for that reason, looked upon him as a rebel. 
In consequence, after a short pastorate of two years 
only, Stahlschmidt returned to his old home, where he 
spent the remaining thirty-seven years of his life as a 
leader of prayer-meetings, and as a champion of Bible- 
Christianity against the rationalism then prevailing. 



8 



V. INDEPENDENCE. 



When the first century of the Reformed church's 
life in America neared its end, the political independ- 
ence of the colonies had been fully established, and the 
loose confederacy of states had developed into a firm 
union. As a necessary consequence, the American 
church could no longer remain a dependency of a Eu- 
ropean church; she must begin to be responsible to 
Christ directly for all she did. The time had come for 
the deputies to leave their American foster-children to 
act for themselves, as a wise father, in due time, dis- 
misses his adult som from tutelage and guardianship. 

After Schlatter's dismissal, they had continued forty 
years longer to send ministers and moneys, and to 
exercise a careful supervision over the actions of the 
Coetus. But the time came when the services of min- 
isters trained in the ways of Europe were no longer 
acceptable to the American-born descendants of Ger- 
man immigrants. Not on the ground of language 
mainly ; it was not only that the broad brogue of some 
Swiss newcomers was complained of as distasteful and 
unintelligible; nor was it the uncontrolled temper of 
others only that repelled American-bred people trained 
to habits of self-government and self-command; it 
was not only that most Europeans had never learned 

and some never could learn the rules of calm parlia- 

110 



Independence. 



Ill 



mentary discussion, nor how to meet their fellow-men 
on terms of equality, and their opponents in the spirit 
of tolerance — the whole bearing and personality of 
European men proved more or less uncongenial to the 
American church. The last minister sent, in 1788, D. 
C. Pick, was not accepted by Coetus. 

Moreover, in the matter of ordinations, vexatious 
delay and sometimes serious losses were caused when 
the Deputies insisted upon being consulted before 
Coetus could ordain licentiates. In the administration 
of church discipline also all suspensions from the min- 
istry as well as all reinstatements had to be sanctioned 
in Holland before they could become valid in America. 
Sometimes Coetus was reprimanded quite severely for 
rash action in such cases. Still more sharply the Amer- 
icans were called to order when they began to speak 
of establishing an institution of learning. The estab- 
lishment of Franklin College in Lancaster*, although 
not controlled by the Reformed Church, was made 
the occasion for some pointed questions. 

These checks and frictions began to gall the Ameri- 
cans. The spirit of independence was up in the land, 
and freedom was in the air. In New York the 
Dutch dominies had cut loose from their mother 
church. The Pennsylvania Germans had been weaned 
from the counsels of the Deputies by those interrup- 



*Fifty years later this Franklin College was merged into the 
Marshall College of Mercersburg moved to Lancaster, and 
the united institution placed under control of the church. 



112 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



tions of commerce and correspondence that were 
unavoidable in a war waged with the ruler of the ocean. 

In Holland, on the other side, the interest in the 
needs of Pennsylvania began to wane, the collections 
dwindled down, and the transmissions of new minis- 
ters grew few and far between. Nor was there any- 
longer a pressing demand for them, since the Ameri- 
can pastors were now training candidates for the min- 
istry sufficient to meet the demand. 

Financial conditions also had undergone a great 
change. American pastors no longer stood in need of 
missionary appropriations, their congregations being 
now able and willing to support them. As early as 
1764, Coetus resolved to forego all financial aid ten- 
dered by the Deputies to ministers stationed in Amer- 
ica. The resolution was not fully carried into effect 
then, but gradually it came about that moneys from 
Holland were used for the traveling expenses only of 
the men sent, for pastors' widows, and for invalid min- 
isters. 

In 1791 Coetus resolved, inasmuch as the Deputies 
had sent no answer to their request for authority to or- 
dain licentiates Stock and Rahauser, to proceed with 
their ordination, and henceforth to examine, license, 
and ordain candidates on the authority of Coetus 
alone. 

In 1792 Coetus resolved to elect a committee for 
the preparation of a constitution. 

In 1793 the new constitution was submitted and ac- 



Independence. 



113 



cepted. It contained no reference to the Deputies, and 
made Coetus an independent synod. 

For sixty years the church of Holland had carried 
on the work of helping their German brethren in Amer- 
ica. The whole number of ministers commissioned for 
service here and assisted while here, amounts to thir- 
ty-seven, and the moneys transmitted amounted to 
$25,880 in our money. But of far greater value before 
God than this large sum of money and these valuable 
men is the persevering faith and love displayed by this 
remarkable body of men, which under the name of The 
Deputies, wiU go down to posterity as a splendid illus- 
tration of charity which "suffereth long and is kind," 
"envieth not/' "vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 
does not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, 
is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil ; rejoiceth not in 
iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, 
hopeth all things, endureth all things." 1 Cor. xiii. 

But beside this brilliant constellation on the heavenly 
canopy spread over the American Reformed Church, 
her gratitude is also claimed by those illustrious men 
belonging to other churches, who stimulated her to in- 
creased spiritual activity, the Separatists and the Mys- 
tics, the Moravians and the Methodist and Mennonite 
Evangelists. 

In the science of botany the celebrated Fritz Mueller 
has recorded a variety of observations proving that the 
pollen of some flowers does not act as well on the seed- 
germs of the mother plant as upon those of others. 



114 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



Nature even has provided ways and means to prevent 
the pollen from coming in contact with its own seed- 
germs, and to transfer it to others. This transfer is 
accomplished by the agency of insects and winds. 
Flowers from seeds fertilized with their own pollen 
generally prove inferior to those from seeds fertilized 
with pollen coming from different plants. 

Like many other laws of nature, this also applies to 
God's Kingdom. Any denomination that will confine 
its range of thought and the maintenance of its min- 
istry to its own resources exclusively, is likely, in the 
course of time, to stagnate, to degenerate, and to con- 
tract a sort of spiritual consumption. A free circula- 
tion of air and of blood is conducive, yea necessary to 
a healthful life. We have good reason, then, to give 
thanks to the Lord for having brought to bear so many 
and such varied influences upon our church during its 
formative period, whereby He made her what she is 
now, firm in the maintenance of principles character- 
istic of her own peculiar life and mission, and at the 
same time willing to receive new inspirations from all 
and every one confessing the Christ come in the flesh. 

THE IXDEPEXDEXTS. 

This narrative necessarily has dealt mainly with min- 
isters in the Coetus, but the reader's knowledge of the 
early church would be incomplete and one-sided, if 
the multitude of those were passed by in silence, who 
under the name of independent ministers served num- 
erous Reformed congregations perhaps equally large 



Independence. 



115 



as the number of those in connection with the Coetus. 
The bulk of them bore a more than doubtful character. 

One of them, Cyriacus Spangenberg de Reidemeis- 
ter, died on the gallows in Berlin, Pa. He seems to 
have been a soldier in Holland, where at that time many 
Germans in desperate circumstances were entrapped by 
the wily recruiting officer. He came to America in 
1780 and studied theology with Boos, independent 
minister in Reading, and repeatedly applied to Coetus 
for ordination, but was rejected as often. Since 1785 
he officiated unordained. He may have been a fluent 
speaker, but when he wanted to marry, the fact leaked 
out that he had a wife in Holland. In consequence, he 
had to seek a new field of usefulness — to himself, and 
three times he succeeded for a short period. A few 
months after he had been settled as paster over the 
Berlin charge, the congregation was called by the eld- 
ers to a meeting and Elder Glessner moved his dis- 
missal. That so enraged Spangenberg that he jumped 
on him and stabbed him. He was arrested, brought to 
trial, and executed six months later. 



Another, /. H. Weickel, when serving Boehm's 
church, in the beginning of the Revolution, preached 
on Eccl. ii: 13. "Better is a poor and wise child, than 
an old and foolish king, who will no more be admon- 
ished." If he intended to produce a sensation, he suc- 
ceeded beyond hope, for the congregation contained 
quite a large number of tories, and he finally had to 
resign. 



116 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



His favorite amusement was to turn his horse loose 
in a small yard, and fire his pistols over his horse's head 
to train it for military service, he said. Finally he is 
said to have turned highway robber. 



Another, F. W. Vandersloot, posed as a great man, 
because he had been "inspector" of the Joachimsthal 
Gymnasium in Berlin, Prussia, and had preached in 
the "Dome," the cathedral where the royal court at- 
tended service. But an inspector there is no more than 
a tutor, and the places of inspectors were given to 
licentiates who as such had to preach probationary 
sermons in the Dome before their examiners and the 
sexton. But with his pretensions he so imposed upon 
the farmers in Northampton county that the largest 
congregations chose him pastor. Finally he was de- 
tected in bigamy and had to quit. 

It must be said, however, that the number of immoral, 
or tramp, ministers of those times is by no means as 
large as it has been represented. Of the forty- two 
ministers independent of Coetus known at this writing 
ten only led scandalous lives. To this number twelve 
more must be added, who originally were members of 
Coetus, but were suspended from the ministry. In all 
probability, the number of independents was about as 
large as that of the Coetus ministers, all of whose 
names are on record, whilst the independents frequent- 
ly left no record behind. 



Independence. 



117 



Men like Haegener, Bechtel, Guldin, John Peter Muel- 
ler, Antes, Rauch, Brandmueller, and, perhaps, Hock, 
could not be classed with the impostors, although not 
subject to any eclesiastical authority. The story of one 
such independent may help to form a correct estimate 
of their characters in general. 

JOH. JOACHIM ZUBLY. 

He was born in 1724 in St. Gall, Schlatter's home. 
His father came over in 1736 with a Swiss colony un- 
der Pastor Zuberbuehler. In those times quite a num- 
ber of Swiss colonies guided by their pastors came to 
settle in the New World, e. g. Gotschy's colony, and 
that of Weiss. Zuberbuehler's colony went to Georgia, 
where Oglethorpe, the philanthropist, was at that time 
providing a home for the London debtors, for the 
French Hugenots, and for the persecuted Lutherans 
from Salzburg. 

Zubly's father was a weaver of comparative wealth. 
When the father went to America, the son was left in 
school at home, and a sufficient sum of money was de- 
posited to provide for the completion of his studies. By 
the time the son had completed his course in theology, 
his means were exhausted, and his father, who by this 
time had become a poor man, in a letter still preserved, 
asked the magistrate of St. Gall to furnish his son 
with the means to come to America and "preach the 
Gospel to the Indians and build up the Reformed 
Church," a request which seems to have been granted. 
Young Zubly, however, never got to the Indians. Im- 



118 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



mediately upon his arrival, the youthful preacher of 
twenty years was called to the Purysburg, S. C, con- 
gregation. He was not content, however, with the 
comparatively narrow range of German fellowship. 
The excellent education his father had provided for 
him enabled him in a comparatively short time to mas- 
ter the language of his new country and to form 
the acquaintance of the most efficient Christian work- 
ers here. Whitefield and his orphans' home, Bethes- 
da in Georgia, attracted him especially, and by White- 
field he was prevailed upon to make an evangelistic 
tour through the colonies, such at Whitefield himself 
had made repeatedly. 

By sea he went to Philadelphia, in 1752, and preach- 
ed for Steiner, not with his approbation however, for 
Steiner was not in sympathy with revivalism. Nor 
were his other Reformed brethren just then so situated 
that communion with them of an inspiring character 
could have been held. It was the very year when the 
Coetus-split occurred. But what Zubly did not find 
with his old countrymen, he abundantly found with his 
new countrymen. Everywhere the pulpits of the Eng- 
lish churches were cheerfully placed at his disposal. 
Princeton also invited him, where Aaron Burr, father 
of the later vice president, at that time presided over 
the college. Later on, the college bestowed on Zubly 
the title of D. D. Then he came to New York, and the 
German Reformed congregation there desired to re- 
tain him as their pastor, but he felt called to preach 
repentance in many tongues and places. On every day 



Independence. 



119 



in New York he preached two or three times in Ger- 
man, English, and French. 

From here he traveled through the interior of Penn- 
sylvania, preaching in cities and country churches. 

On his return home he finally took charge of a con- 
gregation in Savannah, where in the morning he 
preached in French and in the evening in English. 

When the Revolution came, the political storm car- 
ried him away for some time. On July 4, 1775, he 
preached a sermon* on Is. xi : 13. "The envy also of 
Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah 
shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and 
Judah shall not vex Ephraim." His subject was the 
jealousy existing then between the southern states and 
New England, which must be overcome for united re- 
sistance and final deliverance. 

The politicians recognized the high value of Zub- 
ly's eloquence and influence; he was elected member 
of Congress, and to him fell the honor of opening its 
proceedings with prayer. A still greater honor might 
have been his, that of signing the great Declaration of 
Independence, and he might have become one of the 
immortals whose names are read generation after gen- 
eration, by millions and myriads of men. But he was 
not politician enough for that. After all, his sacred 
calling for him was of more weight than human glory. 
He knew of a higher liberty than political independ- 
ence, a liberty not fought for with the soldier's sword. 

*Somewhat prophetically, for the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence came one year later. 



120 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



Being a messenger of the peace he would not advocate 
war against England, and left Congress in the spring of 
1776, to return to pastoral work in Savannah. But 
here his influence was gone now. He was suspected 
of secretly corresponding with the British, w T as exiled 
from Savannah, and lost his property by confiscation. 
He died in 1781. 

Nine of his sermons in print are preserved. The 
first, of 1794, bears the title: But They are Not Con- 
verted. 

Another, printed 1765, in London, is entitled: The 
True and the False Conversion, and the Difference be- 
tween Them. 

In another, delivered before the Georgia Legislature 
in 1775, he gives a concise account of Switzerland's 
struggle for liberty. His "Evangelical Witness" 
reached the fourth edition. 

A List of Ministers Permanently Connected 
With the Coetus. 

Alsentz, Bartholomaeus, Boehm, Boehme, Blumer, 
Chitara, Dubendorf, Dubois, Dalliker, Faber, Faber, 
jun., Foehring, Frankenfeld, Gebhart, Gobrecht, Hoch- 
reutiner, Hendel, Henop, Helffrich, Helffenstein, Herr 
man, Hautz, Leidich, Lischy, Mann. Nevelling, 
Pauli, Pomp, Otterbein, Rahauser, Rieger, Runckel, 
Stapel, Schwob, Conr. Steiner, Stahlschmidt, Stock, 
Schlatter, Troldenier, Tempelmann, Weiss, Wissler, 
Waldschmidt, Weyberg, Witner, Weymer, Wagner, 
Weber, Wack, Winckhaus. 



Independence. 



121 



A List of Ministers not Belonging to Coetus, 
Some Suspended. 

Antes, Brandmueller, Berger, (Bucher), Boas, Bech- 
tel, Corminga, Dorsius, Decker, Dillenberger, Goetschi, 
Gasser, Giese, Goos, Guldin, Gueting, Hecker, Ingold, 
Hirzel, J. J. Hock, Kals, Kern, Haegener, Lange, Lupp, 
Loretz, Joh. P. Mueller, Peter Mueller, Fr. C. Muel- 
ler, Martin, Michael, Pick, Pernisius, Pythan, Rauch, 
Reiss, Ruebel, Roth, Rothenbuehler, Luther, Steiner, 
sen., Schnorr, Stoy, Straub, Spangenberg, Schneider, 
Vandersloot, Willy, Wallauer, Weickel, Wuerz, Zubly, 
Zuberbuehler, Zufall. 

Ministers of Coetus, 1793. 

Present: Faber, Hendel, Helffrich, Hock, Hautz, 
Gobrecht, Mann, Pauli, Rahauser, Runckel, Wack, 
Wagner, Winkhaus. 

Absent : Dalliker, Dubendorf, Blumer, Gueting, 
Hermann, Otterbein, Pomp, Troldenier, Weber. 



These lists contain the names of fifty German Re- 
formed ministers connected with the Coetus, and fifty 
four not connected with it, one hundred and four in all ; 
add to them six names omitted because doubtful, and 
the result is that one hundred and ten ministers were la- 
boring during this period, from 1714 to 1793, among 
the Reformed Germans in North America, some of 
them men eminent for Christian character and spiritual 
power, almost all of them patiently and diligently 
preaching the Gospel of Christ ; administering the sac- 



122 



The Pioneers of the Reformed Church. 



raments in reverent faith; carefully instructing the 
youth ; -and privately, as well as publicly feeding their 
flocks with the bread that comes from heaven. 

In thus working for Christ and the church, they en- 
countered all the hardships of pioneer life, "being des- 
titute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not 
worthy ; they wandered in deserts and in mountains." 
Hebr. xi : 37, 38. But they that kept the faith, now 
have their reward of exceeding joy before the throne of 
Christ Jesus, in whom they believed, though then they 
did not see him. They now are in glory; all their 
agonies are over; in untroubled peace, with no one to 
molest them or make them afraid, they stand before the 
throne of the Lamb, in white garments, shining like the 
stars of heaven for aye and aye. 

Many thousands and thousands of immortal souls 
were saved and comforted by their humble labors; 
thousands of households were gladdened by their pres- 
ence and from the mean pursuit of earthly things lifted 
up to a heavenly walk and conversation ; from strife and 
jealousy to peace and happiness; from the bitterness of 
mutual reproaches to the sweetness of mutual forbear- 
ance. They stood by the sick tortured in pain and re- 
morse, and led them through penitence to peace; they 
stood by the dying and whispered the sweet name of 
Jesus into their ears about to be closed forever to all 
earthly sound and human voice; they stood by the 
grave and consoled the widow and the orphans with the 
promises of the God of Love and the Christ of the Res- 
urrection. 



Independence. 



123 



More than that : They built the Church. Amid storms 
and tempests, when unbelievers scoffed and men of 
little faith trembled because of the shame and the weak- 
ness of this visible church : they worked on. Believing 
that, as Jesus told Peter, the gates of hell should not 
prevail against her rock-built foundations, they said to 
their own doubting minds, Be still ! and to their dis- 
couraged flocks, Keep the faith, fight the good fight! 
And He who would not break the bruised reed, nor 
quench the smoking flax, Is. xlii : 3, He who intercedes 
for weak disciples and compassionately smiles on de- 
spairing believers, the ever glorious Son of the living 
God, He gave them the victory. 

The little band of twenty-two preachers who consti- 
tuted the Coetus of 1792, in the course of one century 
has grown into eight synods with twelve hundred min- 
isters, whilst the population of our country has multi- 
plied twenty fold in the course of a century, the Re- 
formed Church in the United States has multiplied 
fifty fold, and at this very writing the president of the 
whole country is worshipping in one of her humble 
churches. 

Glorious things of thee are spoken, 

Zion, city of our God; 
He whose word cannot be broken 

Formed thee for His own abode ; 
On the Rock of Ages founded, 

What can shake thy sure repose ; 
With salvation's wall surrounded, 

Thou may'st smile at all thy foes. 



Dr. J. I. Good's Books 

Published by Daniel Miller, 
Reading, Pennsylvania. 



History of the Reformed Church 
in the United States (1710-1793.) 

This book aims to give a complete history of the origin 
of the German Reformed Church, based on the original 
records in Europe. Most of the dark problems have be- 
come clear through it, as it throws a flood of light on 
the early history and the men who made it. 

Price (postpaid) $1.75. 

Other books written or edited by the 
same Author. 

Origin of the Reformed Church of Germany- 
(only a very few copies remaining), $1.50 



History of the Reformed Church of Germany. 
(this edition is also growing small), • $1-75 



. 8 IB** 



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